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Vessels of Magic
Museum Collection Fund, 47.106
Date
1946
Medium
Watercolor
,
graphite
,
scrubbing
,
scraping
Support
Watercolor paper
Dimensions
38 3/4 x 25 3/4 in. (98.4 x 65.4 cm)
Inscription
Lower right in graphite: MARK ROTHKO
Collection
Brooklyn Museum
, Museum Collection Fund, 47.106. © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko
See the Complete Guide
Provenance
Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, 1947
Brooklyn Museum, 1947
Exhibitions
Mark Rothko: Exhibition of Watercolors
, Mortimer Brandt Gallery, New York, April 22 – May 4, 1946, no. 7, as
Vessels of Magic
.
Oils and Watercolors by Mark Rothko
, San Francisco Museum of Art, August 13 – September 8, 1946, as
Vessels of Magic
.
Oils and Watercolors by Mark Rothko
, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, October 1 – 15, 1946, as
Vessels of Magic
.
New Accessions United States
, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, July 12 – September 5, 1948, cat. 9, as
Vessels of Magic
.
Modern American Painting, 1930–1958
, Palazzo Reale Napoli, October 31 – November 25, 1959.
Modern American Painting, 1930–1958
, Palazzo Strozzi, December 12, 1959 – January 10, 1960.
25 anni di pittura americana, 1933-1958
, Galleria nazionale d'arte moderna, January 23 – February 22, 1960.
25 anni di pittura americana, 1933–1958
, Società per le belle arti ed esposizione permanente, March 5 – 31, 1960, as
Vessels of Magic
.
Moderne amerikanische Malerei, 1930–1958
, Amerika Haus, April 15 – May 15, 1960.
Moderne amerikanische Malerei, 1930–1958
, Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt, June 3 – 26, 1960, cat. 63, as
Vessels of Magic
.
Modernt amerikanskt måleri, 1932–1958
, Göteborgs konstmuseum, July 15 – August 7, 1960, cat. 63, as
Magiska fartyg
.
Modern American Painting, 1930–1958
, York City Art Gallery, August 15 – September 20, 1960.
Mark Rothko
, The Museum of Modern Art, January 18 – March 12, 1961, as
Vessels of Magic
.
Mark Rothko: A Retrospective Exhibition: Paintings, 1945–1960
, Whitechapel Art Gallery, October 11 – November 8, 1961, cat. 4, as
Vessels of Magic
.
Mark Rothko
, Stedelijk Museum, November 23 – December 27, 1961, cat. 4, as
toverkelken
.
Mark Rothko
, Palais des beaux-arts de Bruxelles, January 6 – 28, 1962, cat. 4, as
Vessels of Magic
.
Mark Rothko
, Kunsthalle Basel, March 3 – April 8, 1962, cat. 4, as
Magische Gefäβe
.
Mark Rothko
, Galleria nazionale d'arte moderna, April 27 – September 1, 1962, cat. 4, as
Vascelli magici
.
Mark Rothko
, Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, December 5, 1962 – January 13, 1963, cat. 4, as V
essels of Magic
.
New York Painting and Sculpture, 1940–1970
, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 18, 1969 – February 1, 1970, cat. 345, as
Vessels of Magic
.
Subjects of the Artists: New York Painting, 1941–1947
, Whitney Museum of American Art, downtown branch, April 22 – May 28, 1975, as
Vessels of Magic
.
Twentieth-Century American Drawing: Three Avant-Garde Generations
, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, January 23 – March 28, 1976, cat. 122, as
Vessels of Magic
.
Surrealism and American Art, 1931–1947
, Rutgers University Art Gallery, March 5 – April 24, 1977, cat. 130, as
Vessels of Magic
.
Abstract Expressionism: The Formative Years
, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, March 30 – May 14, 1978, as
Vessels of Magic
.
Abstract Expressionism: The Formative Years
, Whitney Museum of American Art, October 5 – December 3, 1978, as
Vessels of Magic
.
Mark Rothko, 1903–1970: A Retrospective
, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, October 27, 1978 – January 14, 1979, cat. 52, as
Vessels of Magic
.
Mark Rothko: Subjects
, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, October 15, 1983 – February 26, 1984, as
Vessels of Mgic
.
La planète affolée: Surréalisme, dispersion et influences, 1938–1947
, Centre de la Vieille Charité, Musées de Marseille, April 12 – June 30, 1986, cat. 281, as
Vessels of Magic
.
The Spiritual in Art: Abstract Painting, 1890–1985
, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, November 23, 1986 – March 8, 1987, cat. 50, as
Vessels of Magic
.
Mark Rothko
, Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art, September 23 – November 5, 1995, cat. 20, as
Vessels of Magic
.
Mark Rothko
, Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art, November 11 – December 24, 1995, cat. 20, as
Vessels of Magic
.
Mark Rothko
, Nagoya City Art Museum, January 4 – February 12, 1996, cat. 20, as
Vessels of Magic
.
Mark Rothko
, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, February 17 – March 24, 1996, cat. 20, as Vessels of Magic.
Mark Rothko
, Whitney Museum of American Art, September 17 – November 29, 1998, cat. 31, as
Vessels of Magic
.
Mark Rothko: Paintings on Paper
, National Gallery of Art, November 19, 2023 – March 31, 2024, as
Vessels of Magic
.
References
Jewell, Edward Alden. "Art: Hither and Yon."
New York Times
, April 28, 1946: 6.
Goldwater, Robert, and Peter Selz.
Mark Rothko, A Retrospective Exhibition, Paintings 1945–1960
. Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, 1961: cat. 4 (b/w).
Coates, Robert M. "The Art Galleries: In the Museums."
New Yorker
, January 28, 1961: 78-79.
Goldwater, Robert, Emilio Villa, and Peter Selz.
Mark Rothko
. Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 1961: n.p..
Goldwater, Robert, and Peter Selz.
Mark Rothko
. Kunsthalle Basel, Basel, Switzerland, 1962: n.p..
Bucarelli, Palma.
Mark Rothko
. Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Rome, 1962: 17, cat. 4 (b/w).
Selz, Peter.
Mark Rothko
. Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, 1962: n.p..
Alloway, Lawrence. "Notes on Rothko."
Art International
6, no. 5-6 (Summer 1962): no. 2, 94.
Geldzahler, Henry.
New York Painting and Sculpture: 1940–1970
. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1969: 58, cat. 345, 296 (b/w).
Sandler, Irving.
The Triumph of American Painting: A History of Abstract Expressionism
. New York, 1970: 175, fig. 13-2 (b/w).
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
Twentieth-Century American Drawing: Three Avant-Garde Generations
. New York, 1976: 77.
Kramer, Hilton. “Rothko–Art as Religious Faith.”
New York Times,
November 12, 1978: 35.
Waldman, Diane.
Mark Rothko, 1903–1970: A Retrospective
. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1978: 278, cat. 52 (b/w).
Chave, Anna.
Mark Rothko: Subjects
. High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA, 1983: 22 (color).
Clearwater, Bonnie.
Mark Rothko: Works on Paper
.
American Federation of Arts, New York, 1984: 31-32, 31 (b/w).
Rudenstine, Angelica Zander.
Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
. New York, 1985: 691.
Musées de Marseill.
La planète affolée: Surréalisme Dispersion et Influences, 1938–1947
. Marseille, France, 1986: 123 (b/w).
Polcari, Stephen. “Mark Rothko: Heritage, Environment, and Tradition.”
Smithsonian Studies in American Art
2, no. 2 (Spring 1988): 43, n. 8, 61.
Hiromoto, Nobuyuki.
Contemporary Great Masters: Mark Rothko.
Vol. 4, Tokyo, 1993: 93, 113, plate 4 (color).
Breslin, James E. B.
Mark Rothko: A Biography.
Chicago, IL, 1993: 608n46.
Waldman, Diane.
Mark Rothko in New York
. (New York, 1994): cat. 20 (color).
Anfam, David, Nobuyuki Hiromoto, Sumi Hayashi, and Naoko Seki.
Mark Rothko
. Tokyo Shimbun, Tokyo, 1995: cat. 20 (color).
Weiss, Jeffrey, ed.
Mark Rothko
. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1998: 313, 341, cat. 31 (color), fig. 6 (b/w).
Weiss, Jeffrey. “Rothko’s Unknown Space.” In
Mark Rothko
, edited by Jeffrey Weiss.
National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1998: 313, 341, cat. 31 (color), fig. 6 (b/w).
Goldberg, Itzhak. "Rothko: la couleur métaphysique."
Beaux Arts Magazine
176 (January 1999): 67.
Weiss, Jeffrey. “Submón.” In
Mark Rothko
, by Oliver Wick et al. Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain, 2000: 29, fig. 4 (b/w).
Wick, Oliver, et al.
Mark Rothko
.
Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain, 2000: 29, fig. 4 (b/w).
Weiss, Jeffrey. “Underworld.” In
Mark Rothko
, by Oliver Wick et al. Fondation Beyeler, Basel, Switzerland, 2001: 41, fig. 28 (b/w).
Wick, Oliver, et al.
Mark Rothko
.
Fondation Beyeler, Basel, Switzerland, 2001: 41, fig. 28 (b/w).
Wick, Oliver.
Mark Rothko: Works on Paper, 1930–1969
. Galerie Beyeler, Basel, Switzerland, 2005: 30n7.
Clearwater, Bonnie.
The Rothko Book
. London, 2006: 59, fig. 48 (color).
Wick, Oliver, ed.
Mark Rothko
. Palazzo delle esposizioni, Rome, 2007: 61n8.
Barbero, Luca Massimo.
Peggy Guggenheim e la Nuova Pittura Americana
. Arca, Chiesa di San Marco, Vercelli, 2008: 156.
Fine, Ruth. “Meaning in Touch: Rothko on Paper.” In
Mark Rothko: The Decisive Decade, 1940–1950
, edited by Bradford R. Collins. Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC, 2012: 103.
Collins, Bradford R., ed.
Mark Rothko: The Decisive Decade, 1940–1950
. Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC, 2012: 103.
Cohen-Solal, Annie.
Mark Rothko
. Arles, France, 2013: 125.
Cohen-Solal, Annie.
Mark Rothko: Toward the Light in the Chapel
. New Haven, CT, 2015: 102.
Davidson, Susan. "Feminism for the Most Masculine: How Two Women Launched an Art Market." In
Abstract Expressionism
, edited by David Anfam. Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2016: 309n32.
Anfam, David, ed.
Abstract Expressionism
. Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2016: 309n32.
Greenhalgh, Adam.
Mark Rothko: Paintings on Paper
. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2023: 26-27, 183, 189n54, 189n60, plate 38 (color).
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