Landscape with Mountains [verso] 

Mark Rothko created this pencil drawing, Landscape with Mountains, on paper sometime in the mid-20th century. It shows a loose rendering of a landscape dominated by mountain forms, with hints of human figures and architecture. Rothko, though famous for his later color field paintings, received a traditional art education at Yale and the Art Students League in New York, where he was taught the importance of figuration. This drawing, seemingly a casual sketch, is of interest because it provides insight into the artist’s process and perhaps something of his social milieu. It is a window into the development of an artist who would soon abandon these conventions. The art historian’s role is to reconstruct these contexts, to understand how artistic choices are shaped by both personal intention and the push and pull of institutions and social forces. We use archival materials, such as letters, exhibition catalogs, and critical reviews, to gain a deeper understanding of the conditions in which art is made and received.