Jewish American painter Mark Rothko whose original name was Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz, was born in Russia of Latvin descent in 1903. The Rothkowitz family moved to the US in late 1913. Markus began painting in the early 1920s and established himself within the art scene. By 1940, he was concerned about anti-semitisim and chose to change his name to Mark Rothko. Rothko would go on to become one of the most important artists of his time, generally identified as an abstract expressionist
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