David Rosenthal: Paintings of the North and South Polar Regions Collection CAE1202

Introduction/Abstract Artist David Rosenthal spent 6 Austral summers and 4 Austral winters in the Antarctic and has lived in and traveled extensively through the northern polar regions. Throughout those journeys he has sketched and painted the landscape in preparation for making larger studio works. Materials include sketchbooks, studies, and exhibition catalogs that trace the evolution of his work from field to studio to exhibition.

Biographical Note: David Rosenthal Rosenthal at first studied physics in college but graduated from the University of Maine at Farmington in 1976 with an interdisciplinary degree before moving to Cordova, Alaska in 1977 to work in the fishing industry and paint landscapes. By the end of the decade has was traveling to remote villages as part of the Artist in the Schools Program sponsored by the State of Alaska. He later participated in the U.S. Coast Guard Art Program, which put him aboard the icebreaker Polar Star for trips to Greenland and the northern polar ice cap. He has lived in Cordova, Alaska for many years, and after working in the Antarctic for several seasons was accepted into the National Science Foundation Antarctic Visiting Artist program.

Scope and Content Rosenthal moved to Cordova, Alaska in 1977 to work in the fishing industry and paint landscapes. By the end of the decade has traveled to remote villages as part of the Artist in the Schools Program sponsored by the State of Alaska. In 1988, he participated in the U.S. Coast Guard Art Program, which put him aboard the icebreaker Polar Star for trips to Greenland and the northern polar ice cap.

He has lived in Cordova, Alaska for many years, and after working in the Antarctic for several seasons was accepted into the National Science Foundation Antarctic Visiting Artist program. Rosenthal spent 6 Austral summers and 4 Austral winters in the Antarctic (1 summer and 2 winters as a visiting artist during 1993, 1996, 1999), and has lived in and traveled extensively through the northern polar regions. Throughout those journeys he has sketched and painted the landscape in preparation for making larger studio works. As Rosenthal put it in an interview in the April 2012 issue of Physics World:

“Although I cannot claim to be a physicist by any measure, what I did learn has been the key to the success of my work as an artist. I paint my landscapes using only pencil sketches done at the actual locations. The painting of the scene is more the creation of an abstract structure than just the copying of an image. Understanding the properties of light and colour is important, and I learned about light and colour from physics. More importantly, the scientific method has shaped my thinking. Whenever I am involved in trying to create one of my landscapes, I look for the rational explanations behind what I see. If I can understand something, I can paint it.”

Materials include sketchbooks, studies, and exhibition catalogs that trace the evolution of his work from field to studio to exhibition.

Inclusive Dates 1988 – 2012

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Bulk Dates 1989 – 2004

Quantity / Extent .25 cubic feet

Language English

Arrangement This archive is arranged into three folders:

Folder 1: Exhibition Ephemera Folder 2: Studies and Journals Folder 3: Images of the Artist at Work

Related Archive Collections

CAE1042: Lita Albuquerque: Stellar Axis, Antarctica CAE1103: Joan Myers: Wondrous Cold: An Antarctic Journey CAE1107: Stephen Eastaugh: Antarctic Work CAE1112: Simon Balm: Stellar Axis: Antarctica CAE1116: Chris Drury: Antarctica CAE1117: William L. Fox: Terra Antarctica CAE1217: Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid: Ice Music CAE1218: Jean de Pomereu: Antarctic Work CAE1219: Stuart Klipper: The Antarctic, From the Circle to the Pole CAE1307: Chris Kannen: An Antarctic Extended Season CAE1510: Kesler Woodward: The 1899 Harriman Expedition Retraced CAE1605: Anna McKee: 68,000 Years of Ice

Related Publications Wignall Museum/Gallery, Chaffey College. Alaskan Landscapes: Views of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Rancho Cucamonga, CA: Chaffey College, 1994.

Fox, William L. Terra Antarctica: Looking into the Emptiest Continent. San Antonio, TX: Trinity University Press, 2005.

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Container Listing:

CAE1202: Folders 1-3, 1988 – 2012

CAE Box 18 1 Exhibition Ephemera, 1992 – 2003 2 Studies and Journals, 1988 – 2004 3 Images of the Artist at Work, 1996 -- 2012

CAE1202: Additional Materials

CAE Box 19 Objects 2#1 Antarctica 1, Sketchbook, 1989 2#2 Antarctica (2), Sketchbook, c. 1989 2#3 Polar Regions, Sketchbook, not dated 2#4 Ice Margin (Study), Painting, 1988 2#5 Ice Flow in Nilas Ice (Study), Painting, 1988 2#6 Coast of Spitsbergen (Study), Painting, 1988 2#7 Large Berg Half in Sun (Study), Painting, 1989 2#8 Iceberg in Mist, Greenland (Study), Painting, 1989 2#9 Summer Iceberg off Greenland Coast (Study), Painting, 1989 2#10 Iceberg in Bright Gray (Study), Painting, 1989 2#11 Iceberg Near Ice Margin in Greenland (Study), Painting, 1989 2#12 Summer Sea Ice by Greenland Coast (Study), Painting, 1989 2#13 Greenland Coast Cliffs (Study), Painting, 1989 2#14 Greenland Coast Summer Light (Study), Painting, 1989 2#15 Greenland Coast and Summer Ice (Study), Painting, 1989 2#16 Wolstenholme Island (Study), Painting, 1989 2#17 Iceberg and Cliff (Study), Painting, 1989 2#18 Devon Island Glacier (Study), Painting, 1989 2#19 Northwest Passage, Somerset Island (Study), Painting, 1989 2#20 Northwest Passage, Somerset Island (Study), Painting, 1989 2#21 Edinburgh Island, Northwest Passage (Study), Painting, 1989 2#22 Anaktuvuk Pass Sunset (Study), Painting, 1989 2#23 Anaktuvuk Pass (Study), Panting, 1989 2#24 False Pass, Alaska (Study), Painting, 1989 2#25 False Pass Shore, Alaska (Study), Painting, 1989 2#26 Ob Hill View, McMurdo (Study), Painting, 1989 2#27 Castle Rock, McMurdo Summer (Study), Painting, 1989 2#28 Mt Discovery McMurdo (Study), Painting, 1989 2#29 Summer Sea Ice, McMurdo Sound (Study), Painting, 1990 2#30 Castle Rock Trail, McMurdo (Study), Painting, 1990 2#31 Nacreous Clouds (Study), Painting, 1990 2#32 Turks Head, near McMurdo (Study), Painting, 1990 2#33 White Island Blue Day (Study), Painting, 1990 2#34 Winter Icebergs in Sea Ice (Study), Painting, 1990 2#35 Iceberg in Winter Ice (Study), Painting, 1990 2#36 Sunrise on VXE-6 Icefall (Study), Painting, 1990 2#37 Olympus Range Sunrise (Study), Painting, 1990 2#38 High in the Transantarctic (Study), Painting, 1992 2#39 Byrd Surface Camp (Study), Painting, 1992 3

2#40 Byrd Surface Camp (Study), Painting, 1992 2#41 Rupert Coast (Study), Painting, 1993 2#42 Emerald Bergs near Marble Point (Study), Painting, 1993 2#43 Rocks Above Strand Moraines (Study), Painting, 1993 2#44 Summit Cone of Erebus (Study), Painting, 1993 2#45 View from Mount Fleming (Study), Painting, 1993 2#46 Taylor Valley & Lake Bonnie (Study), Painting, 1993 2#47 High Dry Valley (Study), Painting, 1993 2#48 Black Cliff (Study), Painting, 1993 2#49 View from Castle Rock (Study), Painting, 1993 2#50 Aerial View, McMurdo Sound (Study), Painting, 1993 2#51 Nunatak in Ice (Study), Painting, 1993 2#52 Aerial View, Vinson Massif (Study), Painting, 1993 2#53 Vinson Massif in the Sun (Study), Painting, 1993 2#54 Aerial View, North Victoria Land (Study), Painting, 1993 2#55 Mount Byrd from Mount Erebus (Study), Painting, 1993 2#56 Mount Terror from Mount Erebus (Study), Painting, 1993 2#57 White Island from Mount Erebus (Study), Painting, 1993 2#58 Fumarole on Mount Erebus (Study), Painting, 1993 2#59 Table Like Rock (Study), Painting, 1993 2#60 AGO 2 Antarctic Plateau (Study), Painting, 1995 2#61 AGO 2 Antarctic Plateau (Study), Painting, 1995 2#62 Icicles at Sunset (Study), Painting, 1996 2#63 Shackleton Glacier (Study), Painting, 1996 2#64 Shackleton Glacier View (Study), Painting, 1996 2#65 Shackleton Glacier Mountain (Study), Painting, 1996 2#66 South Pole Summer Day (Study), Painting, 1996 2#67 South Pole at White Bow End (Study), Painting, 1996 2#68 South Pole at Sundog (Study), Painting, 1996 2#69 South Pole (Study), Painting, 1996 2#70 Moonlit Glacier (Study), Painting, 1996 2#71 Ross Ice Shelf (Study), Painting, 1998 2#72 Ross Ice Shelf (Study), Painting, 1998 2#73 White Island and Pressure Ridges (Study), Painting, 1998 2#74 White Island (Study), Painting, 1998 2#75 Iceberg Twilight (Study), Painting, 1999 2#76 Paradise Bay (Study), Painting, 1999 2#77 Mt Williams in the Clouds (Study), Painting, 1999 2#78 Glacier and Bay near Palmer Station (Study), Painting, 1999 2#79 Large Iceberg (Study), Painting, 1999 2#80 Windy Day by Palmer Station Shore (Study), Painting, 1999 2#81 Antarctic Peninsula (Study), Painting, 1999 2#82 Icy Channel in Mist (Study), Painting, 1999 2#83 Cliffs and Glaciers Antarctic Peninsula (Study), Painting, 1999 2#84 Channel near Anvers Island (Study), Painting, 1999 2#85 Port Lockroy (Study), Painting, 1999 2#86 Iceberg in Sun near Anvers Island (Study), Painting, 1999 2#87 Iceberg in Mist (Study), Painting, 1999 2#88 Arctic Mountain (Study), Painting, 2000 2#89 Arctic Alaska near Buckland (Study), Painting, 2000 2#90 View from Denali (Study), Painting, 2002

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2#91 Greenland Summit in Mist (Study), Painting, 2004 2#92 Greenland Summit Sunset (Study), Painting, 2004 2#93 Greenland Summit Sunrise (Study), Painting, 2004 2#94 Greenland Summit Moondog (Study), Painting, 2004 2#95 Greenland Summit Afternoon (Study), Painting, 2004 2#96 Greenland Summit Afternoon Moon (Study), Painting, 2004 2#97 Greenland Summit Crescent Moon and Venus (Study), Painting, 2004 2#98 Greenland Summit Red Clouds (Study), Painting, 2004 2#99 South Pole (Study), Oil Painting, 1996 2#100 South Pole Sundog (Study), Oil Painting, 1996 2#101 Ross Ice Shelf (Study), Oil Painting, 1996 2#102 White Island Four Weeks Before Sunrise (Study), Oil Painting, 1996 2#103 Moonrise over White Island (Study), Oil Painting, 1996 2#104 Untitled (Study), Oil Painting, 1998 2#105 Royal Society Range in Summer (Study), Oil Painting, 1998 2#106 White Island in Summer (Study), Oil Painting, 1999 2#107 Glacier and Green Sky (Study), Oil Painting, 1999 2#108 Mountains in Sea Mist (Study), Oil Painting, 1999 2#109 Wiencke Mountains (Study), Oil Painting, 1999

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