Editing Mark Rothko (section)

===First solo show in New York===
Returning to New York, Rothko had his first East Coast one-person show at the Contemporary Arts Gallery.{{sfn|Breslin|1993|p=87}} He showed fifteen oil paintings, mostly portraits, along with some aquarelles and drawings. Among these works, the oil paintings especially captured the art critics' eyes. Rothko's use of rich fields of colors moved beyond Avery's influence. In late 1935, Rothko joined with [[Ilya Bolotowsky]], [[Ben-Zion (artist)|Ben-Zion]], [[Adolph Gottlieb]], [[Louis Harris]], [[Ralph Rosenborg]], [[Louis Schanker]] and [[Joseph Solman]] to form "[[The Ten (Expressionists)|The Ten]]". According to a gallery show catalog, the mission of the group was "to protest against the reputed equivalence of American painting and literal painting."{{sfn|Breslin|1993|p=101–42}}

Rothko was earning a growing reputation among his peers, particularly among the group that formed the Artists' Union.{{sfn|Ashton|1983|p=30–32}} The Artists' Union, including Gottlieb and Solman, hoped to create a municipal art gallery, to show self-organized group exhibitions. In 1936, the group exhibited at the Galerie Bonaparte in France, which resulted in some positive critical attention. One reviewer remarked that Rothko's paintings "display authentic coloristic values."<ref>Ashton, 35.</ref> Later, in 1938, a show was held at the Mercury Gallery in New York, intended as a protest against the Whitney Museum of American Art, which the group regarded as having a provincial, regionalist agenda. Also during this period, Rothko, like Avery, Gorky, Pollock, de Kooning, and many others, found employment with the [[Works Progress Administration]].{{sfn|Breslin|1993|p=121}}