Connections: A retrospective 

In 2008, Rosen published a book of her paintings. Copies of the book can be purchased for $40, free shipping. If interested, let us know through the contact page. 

Introduction

I was born into a family whose roots dug deep into the working class Russian soil. Like many others who immigrated in the early 1900s, my family sought freedom to carry on their Jewish traditions and to escape the poverty they faced daily. America promised both. My parents shared the struggle for freedom and equality with neighbors who came from the same beginnings. My house became a center for meetings organized to make the life of the working-class better. As a young child, I became aware of their concerns while I sat at the kitchen table playing with pencil and paper as my mother and her friends talked over coffee. My mind slipped into blank space amidst the buzzing of voices, the aroma of chicken soup cooking on the stove and the play of light coming in through the curtained kitchen window. First I scribbled and doodled, then I deliberately worked for different effects, fine feather strokes, curlicues and zigzags. Pencil and paper was all that was available, but it was enough to satisfy my need.

Later, in elementary school, my eyes often followed the line of a classmate’s profile. Sometimes it took the teacher’s ruler coming down hard on my hand to bring me back to what she was saying. It soon became obvious to my family that I needed someplace to play with art. They enrolled me in children’s art classes at the Brooklyn Museum. In high school I always chose art classes for my electives. My teachers encouraged me to apply for a scholarship with the National Academy of Fine Arts, which I was awarded. I studied sculpture with Chaim Gross, painting with the three Soyer brothers, at the Henry Street Settlement, and drawing at the Art Student’s League. And so, almost without realizing it, I embarked on a life-long journey into the world of fine art.

Then, for a time, college, marriage, family and community affairs pushed art out; it seemed irrelevant. But I couldn’t push it entirely out of my mind. I always managed to find a corner for a makeshift studio where I could draw or paint once in awhile. Finally, I decided to take my art seriously and enrolled as a full-time student at the Brooklyn Museum Art School. Here I began to absorb the prevailing aesthetic. I immersed myself in current ideas about line, color and form. I found creating paintings that were then called “art for art’s sake,” a wonderfully liberating experience. However, it separated me from the rest of my life. I needed to carry my history and my involvement in current events into my art. I had to create paintings that continued to explore aesthetic possibilities speaking of our time in history. It has been a difficult and rewarding journey.
Renée Rosen
New York City, 2008