Mark Rothko

Mark Rothko (/ˈrɒθkoʊ/), born Markus Yakovlevich Rotkovich (Russian: Ма́ркус Я́ковлевич Ротко́вич, Latvian: Markuss Rotkovičs; September 25, 1903 – February 25, 1970), was an American painter of Russian Jewish descent. Although Rothko himself refused to adhere to any art movement, he is generally identified as an Abstract Expressionist. With Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, he is one of the most famous postwar American artists.

Childhood

Mark Rothko was born in Dvinsk, Vitebsk Governorate, in the Russian Empire (today Daugavpils in Latvia). His father, Jacob (Yakov) Rothkowitz, was a pharmacist and an intellectual who initially provided his children with a secular and political, rather than religious, upbringing. In an environment where Jews were often blamed for many of the evils that befell Russia, Rothko's early childhood was plagued by fear.

Despite Jacob Rothkowitz's modest income, the family was highly educated ("We were a reading family," Rothko's sister recalled), and Rothko was able to speak Russian, Yiddish, and Hebrew. Following his father's return to the Orthodox Judaism of his own youth, Rothko, the youngest of four siblings, was sent to the cheder at the age of five, where he studied the Talmud, although his elder siblings had been educated in the public school system.

Rothko (disambiguation)

Rothko can refer to:

Rothko (club)

Rothko was a small nightclub and live music venue in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City. The club opened in a former textile factory in May 2004, and closed in 2006. It featured a number of acts who subsequently went on to major chart success, such as The Killers, LCD Soundsystem and Futureheads, as well as already successful groups such as Sum 41 and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.

External links

Coordinates: 40°43′08″N 73°59′09″W / 40.71894°N 73.98587°W / 40.71894; -73.98587