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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
.
International Watercolor Exhibition: Fourteenth Biennial
, Brooklyn Museum, April 16 – June 8, 1947, cat. 66, 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, cat. 63, as
Vessels of Magic
.
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
.
From the Collection: The Face of the Artist
, Brooklyn Museum, April – May, 1974.
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
.
American Watercolors and Pastels from the Museum Collection
, Brooklyn Museum, July 3 – September 19, 1976.
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
.
American Watercolors from our Collection
, Brooklyn Museum, May 11 – September 3, 1984.
Flying Tigers: Painting and Sculpture in New York 1939–1946
, Bell Gallery, Brown University, April 26 – May 27, 1985, cat. 50, as
Vessels of Magic
.
Flying Tigers: Painting and Sculpture in New York 1939–1946
, Parrish Art Museum, June 9 – July 28, 1985, cat. 50, as
Vessels of Magic
.
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
.
The Legacy of Surrealism in Contemporary Art
, Ben Shahn Galleries, William Patterson College, February 21 – March 11, 1988, 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.
Masters of Color and Light: Homer, Sargent, and the American Watercolor Movement
, Brooklyn Museum, May 8 – August 23, 1998, cat. 125, as
Vessels of Magic
.
Mark Rothko
, Whitney Museum of American Art, September 17 – November 29, 1998, cat. 31, as
Vessels of Magic
.
Masters of Color and Light: Homer, Sargent, and the American Watercolor Movement
, Terra Museum of American Art, May 8 – July 4, 1999, cat. 125, as
Vessels of Magic
.
Mark Rothko: Paintings on Paper
, National Gallery of Art, November 19, 2023 – March 31, 2024, as
Vessels of Magic
.
Mark Rothko: Paintings on Paper
, The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Norway, May 16 – September 22, 2024.
References
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. New York, 1977: 191 (b/w).
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Peinture
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.
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. New York, 1985: 691.
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. Bell Gallery, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, 1985: 93, cat. 50 (b/w).
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. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA, 1986: 50, 427, plate 45 (b/w).
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. Marseille, France, 1986: 123 (b/w).
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. New York, 1994: cat. 20 (color).
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Mark Rothko
. Tokyo Shimbun, Tokyo, 1995: cat. 20 (color).
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Mark Rothko
. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1998: 313, 341, cat. 31 (color), fig. 6 (b/w).
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, edited by Jeffrey Weiss.
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.
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.
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