Untitled

Inscription: Signed and dated (verso): MARK ROTHKO/ 1949

the artist, New York (1949–d.1970; his estate, consigned to Marlborough Gallery, New York, 1970–77; returned to the artist's estate, 1977–79; transferred in 1979 to The Rothko Foundation); The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc., New York (1979–85; gift to the MMA)

New York. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. "Mark Rothko, 1903–1970: A Retrospective," October 27, 1978–January 14, 1979, not in catalogue.

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "Mark Rothko, 1903–1970: A Retrospective," February 8–April 1, 1979, not in catalogue.

Minneapolis. Walker Art Center. "Mark Rothko, 1903–1970: A Retrospective," April 21–June 10, 1979, not in catalogue.

Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Mark Rothko, 1903–1970: A Retrospective," July 3–September 26, 1979, not in catalogue.

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. "Mark Rothko 1949: A Year in Transition/Selections from The Mark Rothko Foundation," March 18, 1983–September 16, 1984, no. 7 (on extended loan from The Mark Rothko Foundation, New York).

London. Tate Gallery. "Mark Rothko, 1903–1970," June 17–September 1, 1987, no. 29.

Madrid. Fundación Juan March. "Mark Rothko, 1903–1970," September 23, 1987–January 3, 1988, no. 13.

Cologne. Museum Ludwig. "Mark Rothko, 1903–1970," January 30–March 27, 1988, no. 25.

Lyon. Musée Saint-Pierre Art Contemporain. "La Couleur Seule: L'Experience du Monochrome," October 7, 1988–December 5, 1988, unnumbered cat. (p. 99).

Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo. "Founders and Heirs of the New York School," January 25–March 16, 1997, no. 6.

Sendai. Miyagi Museum of Art. "Founders and Heirs of the New York School," April 5–May 25, 1997, no. 6.

Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki. "Founders and Heirs of the New York School," June 28–August 3, 1997, no. 6.

Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. "Mark Rothko," January 14–April 18, 1999, no. 24.

Barcelona. Fundació Joan Miró. "Mark Rothko, "A consummated experience between picture and onlooker"," November 23, 2000–January 28, 2001, no. 18.

Basel. Fondation Beyeler. "Mark Rothko, "A consummated experience between picture and onlooker"," February 18–April 29, 2001, no. 18.

PaceWildenstein Gallery. "Rothko: A Painter's Progress, the Year 1949," January 23–February 23, 2004, unnumbered cat. (p. 63).

Rome. Palazzo delle Esposizioni. "Mark Rothko," October 5, 2007–January 6, 2008, no. 59.

Munich. Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung. "Mark Rothko Retrospektive," February 8–April 27, 2008, no. 59.

Hamburger Kunsthalle. "Mark Rothko Retrospektive," May 8–August 3, 2008, no. 59.

Musée départemental Matisse du Cateau-Cambrésis. "Ils ont regardé Matisse: une réception abstraite États-Unis/Europa 1948-1968," March 15–June 14, 2009, no. 11.

Paris. Fondation Louis Vuitton. "Mark Rothko," October 18, 2023–April 2, 2024, no. 47.

Karen Tsujimoto. Mark Rothko 1949: A Year in Transition/Selections from The Mark Rothko Foundation. Exh. cat., San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. San Francisco, 1983, pp. 12–13, 25, colorpl. 7, uses this work as an example of how Rothko's brushstrokes became more agitated and gained more importance as elements in the composition, giving the rectangles an added energy.

Donald M. Blinken et al. Eliminating the Obstacles Between the Painter and the Observer, The Mark Rothko Foundation: 1976–1986. [New York], [1986], p. 55.

Julio Trenas. "Rothko y la 'Escuela de Nueva York'." Jano 804 (January 29–February 4, 1988), p. 106.

Diane Waldman. Mark Rothko in New York. New York, 1994, pp. 23–24, no. 26, ill. (color), cites this work as an early example of the artist's mature style.

David Anfam. Mark Rothko: The Works on Canvas. Catalogue Raisonné. New Haven, 1998, p. 322, no. 421, ill. (color).

Barbara Novak and Brian O'Doherty in Jeffrey Weiss. Mark Rothko. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. Washington, D.C., 1998, p. 270.

Oliver Wick in Mark Rothko. Exh. cat., Fundació Joan Miró. Basel, 2000, pp. 28, no. 18, ill. p. 88 (color), discusses this work as an example of Rothko's intensification of color tones with deliberately placed dark rectangles in 1949.

Bernice Rose. Rothko: A Painter's Progress, the Year 1949. Exh. cat., PaceWildenstein. New York, 2004, p. 25, ill. p. 63 (color), discusses this work in the context of the growing importance of black in Rothko's palette.

Oliver Wick in Mark Rothko. Ed. Oliver Wick. Exh. cat., Palazzo delle Esposizioni. Milan, 2007, p. 17, no. 59, ill. (color), cites this picture as an example of Rothko's progression towards the "blocky shapes" in his mature work.

Oliver Wick in Mark Rothko Retrospektive. Ed. Hubertus Gassner, Christiane Lange, Oliver Wick. Exh. cat., Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung. Munich, 2008, p. 20, no. 59, il. (color).

Éric de Chassey in Ils ont regardé Matisse: une réception abstraite États-Unis/Europa 1948-1968. Ed. Éric de Chassey and Emile Ovaere. Exh. cat., Musée départemental Matisse, Le Cateau-Cambrésis. Montreuil, 2009, p. 75, no. 11, ill. (color), state that this is a transitional work modeled on Matisse's "Interiors" (1946–48), shown at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in early 1949.