A date of 1953 appears on the back of this work’s mounting, and the same date was subsequently incorporated into the number assigned during Rothko’s inventory of 1968/1969. However, despite this documentation, technical and stylistic comparison with similar works suggests that the present work was more likely made in 1959.
Sedat Pakay, a graduate student in photography at Yale School of Art, photographed Rothko in his studio in 1967 posed before the current work and [Untitled] (fig. 1).
1. Sedat Pakay, Mark Rothko, gelatin silver print, 1967.