Memorie Series #XII: Ayaka/Travels
Artist
Stanley Louis Rosenthal
(American, 1942-2015)
Date2014
MediumWatercolor
DimensionsFrame Size: 35 1/4 × 48 1/4 in. (89.5 × 122.6 cm)
Image Size: 27 × 39 1/2 in. (68.6 × 100.3 cm)
ClassificationsDrawing
Credit LineGift of the artist, 2015
Object numberUAC6320
DescriptionIn conjunction with his reception of WSU’s Murray E. Jackson Scholar in the Arts Award, Stanley Louis Rosenthal painted twelve sometimes surreal, always ethereal watercolors for a collection of works titled Memory Series. Each of these delicately rendered portraits pays homage to an individual participating in Rosenthal’s present, surrounded by imaginary constructions emblematic of Rosenthal’s past. This collapsing of time through parallel reference to history and the present day and the folding of dimensions of space through Rosenthal’s amalgamation of real references assembled to form a fictitious space, drawing allusions to the artist’s mythology, situates these works in a realm within the artists own imagination. The dual nature of these works can be understood as a look back to the past for Rosenthal as he chose to work in the medium he called “favorite” in his youth, employing impromptu, “stream of consciousness” energy in his compositions, a technique re-discovered from previous projects in printmaking. The visual biographies, however, root them in here and now as expressions of admiration and aggrandization of individuals who have left their mark on Rosenthal’s own story.“Ayaka/Travels” depicts one of Rosenthal’s students from Japan, studying at Wayne through student visa. In this watercolor, the artist uses Ayaka as a symbolic reminder of his own global adventures, including small self portraits of himself of various excursions throughout the composition. On this work, Rosenthal states, “I am on the right when I hitchhiked through the south during the civil rights days. Note the rebel pick up truck that tried to run me down in Georgia.” The truck is not the only literal representation of travel found in this work. Rosenthal invented a type of airplane mechanism to house the figure of Ayaka, its wings serving as platforms wherein other allusions to travel (flags, tents, smaller aeril devices, and boats) are tethered. Through rendering Ayaka, Rosenthal allowed his unconscious mind to tap into his own global history, creating a composition that reflects on the ideas of travel and occupying foreign spaces both specifically as it relates to their biographies and more conceptually through universally recognizable symbols.
Cleveland, OH native Stanley Louis Rosenthal left his beloved hometown for Pittsburgh, PA to study at Carnegie Mellon University. After obtaining his BFA, Rosenthal moved to Detroit, MI in 1964, serving as a Graduate Assistant in the Department of Art and Art History at Wayne State University. After earning his Master’s from the department, Rosenthal was hired on as a full time faculty member in Printmaking in 1969, reaching professorial status in 2006. Over his fifty years of engagement with Wayne State’s Art Department, his charismatic nature as caring, genuine individual, devoted not only to his craft but to his student’s education served as inviting and inspirational presence resonating throughout the downtown campus. Throughout his career, Rosenthal has been awarded recognition for both his instructional and artistic efforts. He has received accolades on regional and national levels as a printmaker and a painter from Watercolor USA, State of the Art National Watercolor Invitational, and Michigan Water Color Society’s annual exhibitions. In 2001, Rosenthal received the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, WSU. In addition to his roles as award-winning instructor and artist, Rosenthal served as chair of the Michigan Water Color Society, President of Michigan Association of Printmakers, and artist/advisor to the Graphic Arts Council of the Detroit Institute of Arts over the course of his career. He also served as a juror and speaker at many various locations in Michigan and beyond. Additionally, in 2013 he received WSU’s esteemed Murray E. Jackson Scholar in the Arts Award and subsequently put on a two part exhibition titled Memories: Stanley Louis Rosenthal: part one centered on new works by Rosenthal from the collection Memory Series, the second half involved taking a retrospective look at his older body of work in full. Stanley Louis Rosenthal passed away in late 2015. To honor his memory, WSU’s Department of Art and Art History has since crafted a scholarship in his name.
Written by Kat Goffnett
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