Mark Rothko (1903-1970) emigrated to the USA with his family in 1913 from his homeland of Russia.
After the second world war, much influenced by surrealism which drew him into pure abstraction, he became one of the masters of Abstract Expressionists along with Pollock, Motherwell and Gottlieb. In about 1950, the canvases of Rothko and the other painters of the New York school - depicting impressive rectangles and infused with luminous, velvety colours - took on huge, mural dimensions.
The colours in his work grew more sombre towards the end of his life, tending towards greys, blacks and browns attesting to a depression that culminated in his suicide in 1970.
In 1961 the Museum of Modern Art in New York gave him a major retrospective and his work hangs in most major art galleries the world over, including Tate Britain and the Muse National D'art Moderne, Paris.
l There are currently 20 silkscreens and photographic prints of some of his most famous works on show at Tidal Wave gallery, 3 Bridge Street, Hereford.
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