Portrait of a Man Wearing Glasses 

Mark Rothko created this ink wash portrait of a bespectacled man. Rothko, a Jewish immigrant to the United States from Russia, was deeply engaged with the politics of imagery. He saw art as having a public role. During the 1930s, he worked for the WPA, the Works Progress Administration, set up by the Roosevelt administration as part of the New Deal. This aimed to give artists financial support during the Great Depression. For Rothko, this was a formative experience. He saw first hand the ways in which art could address social issues. The simplified, almost crude style of this portrait may reflect an interest in making art that was accessible to a wide audience, beyond the confines of museums and galleries. Understanding the social conditions that shape artistic production is key to the work of the art historian. Investigating archival sources such as WPA records can offer new insights into the artist's intentions and the meanings of their work.