Seated Woman in Striped Shirt Holding Pad of Paper 

Mark Rothko made this quick sketch of a seated woman in striped shirt holding a pad of paper. The drawing might seem simple, but it connects to important ideas about art and society. Rothko was an American artist, and his career developed through the mid-20th century. This was a time of enormous social change and upheaval, and many artists were thinking hard about the public role of art. Rothko himself was associated with the abstract expressionist movement, but he also had a history of figurative painting. It is possible that he was using this work as an opportunity to show the human body in a simplistic way. What can we learn from this drawing? Well, to start with, the figure is not shown to be doing anything other than existing in the space. This is important because it shows how art is used to capture specific moments in time and how art can be used for social purposes. To fully understand such a piece, we can research the artist's life, art movements, and social context. The meaning of art is always influenced by its time.