Mark Rothko was born in Russia in 1903, and immigrated to the United States 1913, settling in Seattle. He enrolled at Yale University in 1921 and at The Art Student’s League in New York in 1925. In 1936, Rothko joined the WPA (Works Project Administration) easel painting division in New York where he met Adolph Gottlieb, Milton Avery and William Baziotes. In 1948, with Robert Motherwell, Clifford Still and Barnett Newman, Rothko formed “The Subjects of Artists School,” a group that met to discuss the content of abstract painting. By the late 1940’s, Rothko was considered a seminal figure in the Abstract Expressionist movement.
By the late 1940’s, Rothko had established his signature style of rectangular forms defined by an irregular, undefined edge painted on a one-color field. Celebrated for his use of color, Rothko developed a process in which he used thinned oils applied in layers to attain the effect of translucent and luminous watercolor.
Rothko’s paintings are viewed by many to be quasi-religious although they have represent no object or symbol of faith. They are spiritual, timeless and personal, transcendent and emotional.
Source: Cited from Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia with revisions.