Bernard J. Rosenthal (August 9, 1914 – July 28, 2009), also known as Tony Rosenthal, was an American abstract

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

widely known for his monumental public art sculptures, created over seven decades.

Biography

Rosenthal was born August 9, 1914 in

Highland Park, Illinois Highland Park is a suburban city located in the southeastern part of Lake County, Illinois, United States, about north of downtown Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 30,176. Highland Park is one of several municipalities located ...

, a suburb of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

. He received his

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases. Background The Bachel ...

degree at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in 1936.

Career

Rosenthal received his first public art commission when he created "A Nubian Slave" for the Elgin Watch Company building at the 1939 World's Fair. Although Rosenthal's public art, included five works in Manhattan, and numerous similar works in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Florida, Michigan, Connecticut, the artist remained elusive. Art dealer Joseph K. Levene told

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''He reminds me of a character actor. You know the face but not the name. With him, you know the art''. By the time of his death at 94, he had not had a retrospective of his work. Rosenthal's works are owned by museums around the world, including: Chrysler Museum: "Big Six", 1977;

Connecticut College Connecticut College (Conn College or Conn) is a private liberal arts college in New London, Connecticut. It is a residential, four-year undergraduate institution with nearly all of its approximately 1,815 students living on campus. The college w ...

: "Memorial Cube", 1972;

Israel Museum The Israel Museum ( he, מוזיאון ישראל, ''Muze'on Yisrael'') is an art and archaeological museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world’s leading encyclopa ...

: "Oracle", 1960; Long House Reserve: "Mandala", 1994–95, "Rites of Spring", 1997;

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 19 ...

: "Things Invisible to See", 1960, "Harp Player", 1950;

Milwaukee Art Museum The Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM) is an art museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Its collection contains nearly 25,000 works of art. Location and Visit Located on the lakefront of Lake Michigan, the Milwaukee Art Museum is one of the largest art museu ...

: "Big Six", 1977, "Maquette for Hammarskjold", 1977;

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of ch ...

: "Magpole", 1965;

San Diego Museum of Art The San Diego Museum of Art is a fine arts museum located at 1450 El Prado in Balboa Park in San Diego, California that houses a broad collection with particular strength in Spanish art. The San Diego Museum of Art opened as The Fine Arts Galler ...

: "Odyssey", 1974; "Cumuli III", 1965

Risd Museum The Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD Museum) is an art museum integrated with the Rhode Island School of Design, in Providence, Rhode Island, US. The museum was co-founded with the school in 1877, and still shares multiple build ...

5 in 1 Sculpture - One Police Plaza (48126616572)

Public art

Tony Rosenthal was best known for his large outdoor geometric abstract sculptures. Rosenthal's work includes: * ''The Family Group'',

Parker Center Parker Center, initially named the Police Administration Building or Police Facilities Building, was the former headquarters of the Los Angeles Police Department from 1955 until October 2009. It was located in Downtown Los Angeles at 150 North Lo ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

, 1955. * ''Orion'', Fulton Mall,

Fresno Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...

, 1964. * ''Duologue'', Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza Art Collection Albany, New York 1965 * ''

Alamo The Battle of the Alamo (February 23 – March 6, 1836) was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna reclaimed the Alamo Mission near San An ...

'',

Astor Place Astor Place is a one-block street in NoHo/ East Village, in the lower part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It runs from Broadway in the west (just below East 8th Street) to Lafayette Street. The street encompasses two plazas at ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, 1967. This "established Rosenthal as a master of monumental public sculpture, and something of a standard bearer of the contemporary structurist esthetic." He stated: "It is…important the sculpture interact with the public." *The Cube "Endover",

The University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. The 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all ...

, 1968. Gift from the University of Michigan class of 1965 and Rosenthal, an alumnus of the university (Class of 1936) * '' Odyssey III'',

, California, 1973 * ''

5 in 1 ''5 in 1'' is a , painted CorTen steel sculpture by Tony Rosenthal, installed at 1 Police Plaza in Lower Manhattan, New York. Commissioned by the government of New York City in 1971 at a cost of $80,000, it was created between 1973 and 1974, an ...

'', Lower Manhattan,

, 1973–74 * ''Indiana Totem'' , 1989, ''Circle'' , 1987, ''J.S. Bach Fugure'' , 1991, Indiana University Art Museum ,

Bloomington, Indiana Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the central region of the U.S. state of Indiana. It is the seventh-largest city in Indiana and the fourth-largest outside the Indianapolis metropolitan area. According to the Mo ...

Mr M Margulies at Sculpture Garden Deck on Grove_Isle

* ''Hammarskjold'', 1977,

Brooklyn College , mottoeng = Nothing without great effort , established = , parent = CUNY , type = Public university , endowment = $98.0 million (2019) , budget = $123.96 m ...

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

(formerly located at the

Fashion Institute of Technology The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) is a public college in New York City. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) and focuses on art, business, design, mass communication, and technology connected to the fashion industry. ...

)

References

* Hunter, Sam, ''Tony Rosenthal'', Rizzoli International Publications, Incorporated, 2001, * Wight, Frederick S., ''Bernard Rosenthal'', New York: Catherine Viviano, 1958. * Marika Herskovic
''American Abstract Expressionism of the 1950s An Illustrated Survey,''
(New York School Press, 2003.) . pp. 290–293 * http://www.27east.com/story_detail.cfm?id=226187 * http://www.easthamptonstar.com/dnn/Archive/Home20090806/Obituaries/tabid/9613/Default.aspx

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenthal, Bernard 1914 births 2009 deaths 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American male artists American male sculptors Cranbrook Academy of Art alumni Modern sculptors University of Michigan alumni