Mark Rothko’s art work and career are interesting to me on several levels.

First, I think it is interesting that he achieved mastery of his art without the typical
lifelong dedication of drawing practice and study. Whether self-taught or classically
trained, most successful artists started drawing or painting at an early age and never
stopped. Apparently, that’s not the case with Rothko, whose interest in art did not
surface until after his college years.

I have seen reproductions of some of his early student work, and it appears that he was
not a particularly good draftsman. A highly intelligent man, he seems to have found a
way around this shortcoming, expressing his ideas without the need for lines.
Developing a unique style based on watercolor washes allowed him to leapfrog those of
his contemporaries who had invested so heavily in learning to draw.

That is not to suggest that he was not a dedicated and committed artist. Obviously he
was. I think that one of the technical challenges he faced was in transferring his
signature style from water media on paper to oil on canvas.

A lot has been made of the darker nature of his later work, suggesting that it was due to
his increasing depression. However, it could also be a response to the inherently darker
nature of the oil/canvas combinations. Comparing a later work on paper with an earlier
oil shows that he could achieve a much brighter transparent wash on white paper.

Untitled 1968 acrylic on paper

 Four Darks in Red –oil on canvas 1958

Rothko was more or less forced to work with oil on canvas to achieve a durable surface,
since he did not want to frame his work or display it under glass. Also canvas is
available in much larger sizes than watercolor paper, a sheet made process. Besides
satisfying his ego and keeping pace with rivals in the New York school, larger canvas
work allowed Rothko to achieve an emotional impact that he could not get with an easel
painting.

By diluting the oil paint with solvent, he could achieve a transparent wash effect with
dark transparent pigments. However he was limited to darker colors like alizarin crimson
because of the color of the oil wet canvas. To get lighter colors, he would need to use
opaque pigments, and that detracted from the depth and resonance that characterize
his work.

At one point late in his career, Rothko had a stroke which prevented him from working
on large canvases for a time. During that period he painted on paper again, and he
freely used light and bright colors. I think it is fair to say that he would have used the
same type of color range on canvas if the technology of the day had made that feasible.