Theodore Roszak

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(1907-1981) First generation New York abstract expressionist artist

sculptor, painter, draughtsman

Theodore Roszak

Thorn Blossom, 1948

"was made on the eve of the birth of the artist's daughter Sara Jane, and involves a highly personal emotion. The delicate and lovely flower which in order to survive must throw up a shield of thorns become a symbol of those many children whom war and destruction never permitted to develop."

[H.H. Arnason, "Theodore Roszak" The Walker Art Center, p.33, 1956]

"I made it on the eve of Sara Jane's birth and it was a kind of invocation of a gentle and beautiful floral structure that in order to survive would require the extension of thorns. It reminded me a little of the plight of many of the lives that were not fully developed or had the possibility of growth, particularly in Europe, and when Sara Jane was born I could not help but feel that same kind of plight and a desire on the part of her own development and survival in terms of acquiring these characteristics."

[Theodore Roszak Interview with Elliott, 1956, p.15]

Thorn Blossom, 1948

"was made on the eve of the birth of the artist's daughter Sara Jane, and involves a highly personal emotion. The delicate and lovely flower which in order to survive must throw up a shield of thorns become a symbol of those many children whom war and destruction never permitted to develop."

[H.H. Arnason, "Theodore Roszak" The Walker Art Center, p.33, 1956]

"I made it on the eve of Sara Jane's birth and it was a kind of invocation of a gentle and beautiful floral structure that in order to survive would require the extension of thorns. It reminded me a little of the plight of many of the lives that were not fully developed or had the possibility of growth, particularly in Europe, and when Sara Jane was born I could not help but feel that same kind of plight and a desire on the part of her own development and survival in terms of acquiring these characteristics."

[Theodore Roszak Interview with Elliott, 1956, p.15]

Nickel-silver and steel 33 1/8 x 18 1/2 x 22 1/2 inches Collection:  Whitney Museum of American Art, New York . Purchase 1948.

Nickel-silver and steel

33 1/8 x 18 1/2 x 22 1/2 inches

Collection: Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Purchase 1948.

Study for Thorn Blossom, 1946-47

Study for Thorn Blossom, 1946-47

Ink and opaque watercolor on paper

14 × 10 in (35.6 × 25.4 cm)

Collection: Whitney Museum of American Art, NY. Gift of the Theodore Roszak Estate (1983).

Thorn Blossom, 1947

Thorn Blossom, 1947

Gouache on paper

14 7/8 x 10 9/16 inches (37.78 x 26.83 cm)

Collection: Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Maine. Gift of the Theodore Roszak Estate (2010).

Exhibition History:

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York, 1948 Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Sculpture, Watercolors, and Drawings, January 31 - March 21, 1948

Art Gallery of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, Contemporary Painting from the United States, Great Britain and France: 50th Anniversary Exhibition, November 4, 1949 – April 3, 1950

Artists’ Gallery, New York, New York, 96 Artists Who have been given One – Man Shows, January 22 – January 29, 1951

College of Architecture, Department of Painting and Sculpture, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, Loan from the Whitney Museum of American Art, April 20 - April 27, 1952

John Wanamaker’s Department Store, Great Neck, New York, Art in America 20th Century, March 1 – March 14, 1953 [organized by the Great Neck Education Association, Great Neck, New York]

Junior Art Gallery, Louisville Free Public Library, Louisville, Kentucky, Everything is Growing, May 24 – July 23, 1955

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York, Theodore Roszak, September 18 – November 11, 1956; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, December 16, 1956 – January 20, 1957; Los Angeles City Museum, Los Angeles, California, February 13 – March 17, 1957; San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, California, April 4 – May 26, 1957; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, June 12 – August 11, 1957

La Biennale Di Venezia, Venice, Italy, XXX Biennale Internazionale D’Arte, June 18 – October 16, 1960 [organized by the Baltimore Modern of Art]

Museum of Art, Science, and Industry, Bridgeport, Connecticut, Shoes and Ships and Sealing Wax, etc., August 14 – September 30, 1962

The Monmouth Museum, Asbury Park, New Jersey, Twenty Years of American Sculpture 1946 – 1966: from the Collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art, May 8 - June 12, 1966

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York, American Art of the Twentieth Century, Selections from the PC, June 30 – September 24, 1967

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York, 70 Years of American Art, July 3 – September 28, 1969

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York, American Art: 1900-1949, September 29 – November 4, 1969

Century Association, New York, New York, Works by Theodore Roszak, June 2 – September 26, 1971

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York, Selections from the Permanent Collection, February 7 – February 28, 1972

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York, American Abstract Art: A Survey from the Permanent Collection, July 24, 1975 - October 26, 1975

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York, Decade of Transition 1940 - 1950: Selections from the Permanent Collection, April 30 - July 12, 1981

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York, The Theodore Roszak Bequest, January 21 – March 18, 1984

Sarah Lawrence College Gallery, Bronxville, New York, Sculptural Expressions: Seven Artists in Metal and Drawing 1947 – 1960, October 8 – November 17, 1985

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York, The American Century: Art and Culture 1900-2000 (Part 1), April 23 – August 22, 1999

New York State Museum, Albany, New York, Meaning, Medium, and Method: American Sculpture 1940-1960, December 8, 2001 – February 24, 2002

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York, 2Dà3D, January 19 – April 22, 2007