Sept. 11 and 12: Mark Rothko – Roots of Abstraction: A Centennial Retrospective

An Installment in the “Discovering Oregon Originals” lecture series, presented by the Oregon Historical Society and Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission

Mark Rothko, among the most prominent Abstract Expressionists, was born in 1903 in Dvinsk, Russia (now Lithuania), coming to Portland, Oregon when he was ten years old, in 1913. Rothko spent his youth in Portland and graduated from Lincoln High School, and went on to study at Yale University. Painting joyfully on visits home to Portland, he still rejected Portland as “dull and provincial.” What did Rothko derive from his Portland experience? How did this self-educated “anarchist” and struggling Works Progress Administration painter, whose first one-person show was at the Portland Art Museum (1933), become world-renowned? Speakers in this program will be Rothko’s nephew Richard Roth and an art historian t.b.a.

Sept. 11 at the Multnomah County Central Library (801 SW 10th, Portland), 7 pm
Sept. 12 at the Oregon Historical Society (1200 SW Park Avenue), noon.

All programs are free and open to the public. Space is limited. For information call 503-285-8279 (OCHC) or OHS at the number given below.