[Multiple studies: subway, beach, racquet sports, and others]

1986.56.74
Medium
Support
Dimensions
8 1/2 x 11 in. (21.6 x 27.9 cm)
Estate/Inventory Number
W 237
Collection
National Gallery of Art, Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc., 1986.56.74. © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko
Remarks
This sheet of sketches was folded in half, most likely by Rothko, given that the orientation of the drawings on the left side of the sheet is opposite to the orientation of the drawings on the right side. The upside-down drawing at the lower right on this sheet—depicting a small figure, possibly a boy, playing paddleball—shares a subject with an untitled oil painting from this period (fig. 1). Paddleball is a single-player game utilizing a small rubber ball attached with elastic string to a hard racket; the game was developed in the 1920s and enjoyed popularity throughout the 1930s and beyond.
[Multiple studies: subway, beach, racquet sports, and others]
1. Mark Rothko, Untitled (man with racket and ball), 1939, oil on gesso board, 8 15/16 x 11 7/8 in., National Gallery of Art, Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc., © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko, 1986.56.658. [Anfam 168]
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