Head of a Male, with Mustache and Glasses c. 1937

This is Mark Rothko’s “Head of a Male, with Mustache and Glasses,” and it’s a very particular drawing on paper. It's so interesting to see Rothko work in ink, because we know him for his huge, color-saturated canvases, but here he's scratching away at a portrait, like he’s digging for something. You can almost feel the pen in his hand, jabbing and swirling to capture this guy's essence. Look at the density of lines around the head, creating a sense of volume, or maybe just Rothko's own agitation. I wonder who this guy was, and what Rothko was thinking as he drew him? Did he know him? Was he trying to be nice, or was he annoyed? You can see him thinking through drawing, a dialogue with the paper, and a way of making the subject come alive. It’s a reminder that even the most abstract artists start somewhere, wrestling with representation before they break free.