Mark Rothko had his first solo exhibition first. Rothko, born in 1903, had his first solo show in New York at the Contemporary Arts Gallery in 1933. Jackson Pollock, born in 1912, had his first solo exhibition a bit later, in 1943, at Peggy Guggenheim's Art of This Century Gallery in New York City. Both artists became central figures in the American Abstract Expressionist movement, but Rothko achieved this milestone earlier in his career. Therefore, Mark Rothko had his first solo exhibition before Jackson Pollock.