Question

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     Mark Rothko, one of the greatest painters of the twentieth century, was born in Daugavpils, Latvia in
1903. His family immigrated to the United States in 1913, after a 12-day voyage.
     Mark moved to New York in the autumn of 1923 and found employment in the garment trade and
settled down on the Upper West Side. It was while he was visiting someone at the Art Students League
that he saw students painting a model. According to him, this was the start of his life as an artist. He was
twenty years old and had taken some art lessons at school, so his initial experience was far from an
immediate calling.
     In 1936, Mark Rothko began writing a book, which he never completed, about the similarities in the
children's art and the work of modern painters. The work of modernists, which was influenced by
primitive art, could, according to him, be compared to that of children in that "Child art transforms itself
into primitivism, which is only the child producing a copy of himself." In this same work, he said that "The
fact that one usually begins with drawing is already academic. We start with colour."
     It was not long before his multiform developed into the style he is remembered for. In 1949 Rothko
exhibited these new works at the Betty Parsons Gallery. For reviewer Harold Rosenberg, the paintings
were unique and primitive. Rothko had, after painting his first multiform, separated himself from the world
in East Hampton on Long Island, only inviting a very few people, including Rosenberg, to view the new
paintings.  The discovery of his works' specialty came at a period of great sorrow: his mother Kate died
in October 1948. As part of this new uniformity of artistic vision, his paintings no longer had individual
titles. From this point on they were simply untitled, numbered or dated. However, to assist in
distinguishing one work from another, traders would sometimes add the primary colours to the name.
Additionally, for the next few years, Rothko painted in oil only on large vertical tents. This was done to
surround the viewer, or, in his words, to make the viewer feel enveloped within the picture.

1. When did Rothko want to be an artist?

A. When he immigrated to the U.S.A.
B. When he watched students drawing.
C. When he moved to the Upper West Side.
D. When he joined the Art Students League.

2. What did Rothko think of modern art?

A. It could be produced by children.
B. It could be compared to child work.
C. It was a certain kind of primitive art.
D. It was academic from the very beginning.

3. Why does the author mention Rothko's uncompleted book?

A. To prove Rothko's concentration on painting.
B. To show Rothko's research on the modern art.
C. To suggest Rothko's unique personal painting style.
D. To explain the inspiration of Rothko's painting style.

4. Rothko's distinctive style ______.

A. took shape in 1948
B. was affected by Rosenberg
C. resulted from his boyhood experience
D. was rooted in the separation from the world

Answer 1

1-4: BBCA