"Sometimes the painting starts to relate very directly to either sights seen or experiences felt, other times it just goes off on a tangent that you really can’t articulate."
-Susan Rothenberg
BACKGROUND:
Susan Rothenberg (1945-)
Susan Rothenberg was born in Buffalo, New York and attended Cornell University and the Corcoran School of Art. She worked in New York City until 1990 when she moved to New Mexico.
One of the most important contemporary figurative painters, Rothenberg explores the relationship between an outlined figure and the painted ground, presented in a simple format with complex brushstrokes. Her first typical image, established in the 1970’s, was that of a horse against a solid, austere ground. The simplicity of the image was a response to minimalism but the gestural brushstroke echoed Abstract Expressionism. Rothenberg’s paintings are usually large and informed with touches of light that make the images indistinct and mysterious.
AWARDS/HONORS
1979 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship Grant 1998 Cornell University Alumni Award
Skowhegan Medal for Painting
1998 Cornell University Alumni Award
2003 Rolf Schock Prize
SOME MUSEUMS INCLUDE:
The University of Michigan Museum of Art
John & Mable Ringling museum of Art
Albright-Knox Art Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Neuberger Museum of Art
