Vessels of Magic

Mark Rothko

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Object Label

In addition to Tiffany Studios and John La Farge, J. & R. Lamb Studio was a prestigious maker of stained-glass windows in the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This window, a presentation piece, was probably shown to the leaders of the Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims, in Brooklyn Heights, for approval to proceed with the extant, large window titled William Penn, Peace Movement, Pennsylvania that the Lamb Studio executed for the church. In the nineteenth century the leader of the Plymouth Church was the ardent antislavery activist Henry Ward Beecher. William Penn, a Quaker and founding father of Pennsylvania, was an early opponent slavery as well, and therefore this subject had social meaning for the congregation.

Caption

Mark Rothko American, born Russia, 1903–1970. Vessels of Magic, 1946. Watercolor on paper, 38 3/4 x 25 3/4 in. (98.42 x 65.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund, 47.106. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 47.106_recto_PS11.jpg)

Gallery

Not on view

Title

Vessels of Magic

Date

1946

Medium

Watercolor on paper

Classification

Watercolor

Dimensions

38 3/4 x 25 3/4 in. (98.42 x 65.4 cm)

Signatures

Signed lower right: "Mark Rothko"

Credit Line

Museum Collection Fund

Accession Number

47.106

Rights

© artist or artist's estate

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