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MEDIA CONTACTS: Ashley Pritchard, 720-913-0096
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Hope Grandon, 720-913-0079
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Images available upon request.
Denver Art Museum Announces Exhibition Chronicling Artist Mark Rothko’s Decisive Decade
Includes works that have rarely been exhibited
(Denver, CO) – The Denver Art Museum (DAM) will present the exhibition Figure to Field: Mark Rothko in the
1940s, June 23–September 29, 2013. Figure to Field highlights the artistic evolution of one of the most influential
artists of the 20th century by showcasing works created in the critical decade of his formative development. Drawn
primarily from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.—the largest repository of Rothko’s work anywhere in
the world—the exhibition includes many paintings, drawings and watercolors rarely seen before. The exhibition will
be on view in the museum’s Gallagher Family Gallery and is included in general admission.
“Figure to Field provides our visitors a visual delight as well as an
understanding of Rothko’s artistic journey during the 10 years he
developed from a sensitive and gifted figurative painter to become the
master of the sublime in the 20th century,” said Christoph Heinrich,
Frederick and Jan Mayer Director of the Denver Art Museum.
The exhibit will include 30 works by Rothko that illuminate his artistic
evolution to become the preeminent artist of the Color Field branch of the
New York school. “By the end of this decade, the rectangular bands that
quietly described the backgrounds of earlier paintings became the
essential fields of his mature works,” said Gwen Chanzit, curator of
modern art at the DAM.
To provide a broader context for Rothko’s development, Figure to Field
will also feature 12 works by some of the artist’s celebrated
contemporaries who shared Rothko’s artistic search, including Robert
Motherwell, Clyfford Still and Jackson Pollock. The recent opening of the
Clyfford Still Museum adjacent to the DAM will afford visitors and scholars
an opportunity to understand the relationship between the two masters.
The DAM will partner with Clyfford Still Museum as well as the Curious
Theatre Company for exhibition-related programming.
Mark Rothko, No. 9, 1948. Oil and mixed media on canvas overall:
53-1/16 x 46 5/8 in. Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc.
©1997 Christopher Rothko and Kate Rothko Prizel ©1998 Kate
Rothko Prizel & Christopher Rothko/Artists Rights Society (ARS),
New York. Image courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington,
D.C.
The exhibition will follow a rough chronological path, tracing Rothko’s journey from the figurative through surrealist
myth-based works, the surrealist-abstracted and the multiforms, all the way to the classic/color field paintings he
began at the end of the decade—Rothko’s signature compositions of softly lit rectangular fields that have the
capacity to transport viewers to meditative states.
“Within the realm of Rothko’s oeuvre, the works in this exhibition are the keys to everything,” said the artist’s son
Christopher Rothko in the exhibition catalogue.
Exhibition Tour Schedule
Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, S.C.:
September 14, 2012–January 6, 2013
Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio:
February 1, 2013–May 26, 2013
Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colo.:
June 23, 2013–September 29, 2013
Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, Ark:
October 25, 2013–February 9, 2014
Exhibition Catalogue
A full color, 170-page catalogue, Mark Rothko: The Decisive
Decade, 1940–1950, will be available in the Museum Shop.
Media Resources
Online Newsroom: www.denverartmuseum.org/press
Exhibition Overview: www.denverartmuseum.org/exhibitions/figurefield-mark-rothko
Facebook: www.facebook.com/denverartmuseum
Twitter: www.twitter.com/denverartmuseum
Mark Rothko, Sea Fantasy, 1946. Oil paint on canvas. Gift of The Mark
Rothko Foundation, Inc., National Gallery of Art, ©1998 Kate Rothko
Prizel & Christopher Rothko/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Image courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Exhibition Credit Line
Figure to Field: Mark Rothko in the 1940s is organized by the
Arkansas Arts Center, the Columbia Museum of Art, the Columbus
Museum of Art and the Denver Art Museum, in conjunction with the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. The
exhibition is funded in part by the Dedalus Foundation. Local support is provided by Christie’s, the generous donors
to the Annual Fund Leadership Campaign and the citizens who support the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District
(SCFD). Promotional support is provided by 5280 Magazine, CBS4 and The Denver Post. This exhibition is
supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
The Denver Art Museum is located on 13th Avenue between Broadway and Bannock Streets in downtown Denver. Open Tuesday–Thursday, Saturday–
Sunday 10 a.m.–5 p.m., Friday 10 a.m.–8 p.m., except the final Friday of the month January–October when the museum stays open until 10 p.m. for the
Untitled event; closed Mondays, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Admission for Colorado residents: $10 adults, $8 seniors and students. Admission for nonColorado residents: $13 for adults, $10 for seniors and students, $5 for visitors aged six to eighteen, free for children under 6. General museum admission is
free the first Saturday of each month, thanks to Target and the citizens who support the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD). Nick Cave: Sojourn
requires a special exhibition ticket. The Cultural Complex Garage is open; enter from 12th Avenue between Broadway and Bannock or check the DAM
website for up-to-date parking information. For information in Spanish, call 720-913-0169. For more information, call 720-865-5000 or visit
www.denverartmuseum.org.
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