Original Rothko 1903–1970: A Retrospective Exhibition Poster From 1979. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, February 9 – April 1, 1979 Rothko Work featured title “Violet, Black, Orange, Yellow on White and Red. 1949. Oil on canvas, 81 1/2 x 66 inch. Bottom of poster reads “This project is supported by grants from Atlantic Richfield foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington DC, a federal agency.” Acquired from a CSU professor estate in Fort Collins in 2026. An art collectors collection. About the artist Mark Rothko Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz until 1940; September 25, 1903 – February 25, 1970) was an American abstract painter. He is best known for his color field paintings that depicted irregular and painterly rectangular regions of color, which he produced from 1949 to 1970. Although Rothko did not personally subscribe to any one school, he is associated with the American abstract expressionism movement of modern art.