Portrait Series #XXI: Jay Noren
Artist
Stanley Louis Rosenthal
(American, 1942-2015)
Date2010
MediumWatercolor
DimensionsImage Size: 40 × 26 1/2 in. (101.6 × 67.3 cm)
Frame Size: 48 3/4 × 35 1/4 in. (123.8 × 89.5 cm)
ClassificationsDrawing
Credit LineGift of Kathlyn Rosenthal, 2018
Object numberUAC6654
DescriptionThough not officially a part of Rosenthal’s “Memory Series,” “Portrait Series #XXI: Jay Noren” feels like a precursor to the artist’s wildly imaginative collection. The composition centers around the image of Dr. Jay Noren, a specialist in the field of public health and President of Wayne State University at the time of this work’s conception. However, without knowing the identity of the subject, one may not expect him to be a man beholden to such serious responsibilities. While his facial expression provides traces of a professional demeanor, the surrounding scene is rendered whimsically, a snapshot of Rosenthal’s surrealist imaginings. Dr. Noren appears to be captaining an impossibly small wooden speed boat as he emerges phantasmically from the inside of a suitcase perched atop a board of plywood. A playful wake is depicted on either side of his vessel, his venture interrupting the otherwise placid sea. Patterned suspenders repeat a mish-mash of multicolored diagonal lines, climbing up the length of his torso, securing a collection of playing cards nestled in a breast pocket. The chaotic angles expressed on his accessory are balanced by the plain blue shirt and the uniformity of pinstriping printed on his white and orange pants. A blush tipped flower is grasped by his left hand, his right hand, raised, covered by a gardening glove, cryptically gestures the number “four.” Overhead five hot air balloons float docilely in a creamsicle sky.Much like the “Memory” paintings, Rosenthal’s portrait of his colleague presents an amalgam of imagery relating to past and present, jumbling fact and fiction, merging symbols of artist and subject through a surrealist fusion of contexts. Some items seek to pay homage to the doctor’s personal life, a rendering of intimate connection formed between the painter and his subject. Rosenthal utilizes a more direct, figurative approach in the representation of the doctor’s character, symbolically spelling out his private biography. According to Dr. Jay Noren, this watercolor was created at a time when he was traveling frequently from Detroit to visit his wife who was working for the University of Illinois. His apparition out of the confines of a suitcase can be construed not only as Rosenthal’s way to indicate that Dr. Noren was frequently on the move, but that this transience comprised a segment of his personhood, commenting on his existence as mystical spector afloat between homes a state apart. Rosenthal balances the imagery of this telling, emotional metaphor with the speedboat. Dr. Noren owned a cabin on a lake in Northern Wisconsin of which the artist was aware. This too provides viewers a peek into the life of the subject, albeit through a more carefree revelation.
“Portrait Series #XXI” depicts a man who embraces the push and pull of the tumultuous tides of life, continuously on the go even in times of leisure; he seems at peace aboard the boat as it deftly slices a sparkling path, clipping across the tranquil scene. This pairing of iconography crafts a well-rounded picture of the subject, paying respect to elements of his being, looking beyond documented accolades and titles to the anecdotal, familiar details shaping his life.
Other items -the balloons, the flower, the playing cards- add phantasmic flair, twisting the expectations of the portrait, a supposed revelatory looking glass into the sitter’s soul. Common items grow heavy with the budding promise of eloquent metaphor in this composition overflowing with enigmatic objects and symbols. Rosenthal’s love of mystery reverberates across the paper plane. Working with a sense of joy the artist wields his brush like a pen, spewing riddles in the language of visuality, encouraging audience participation much like a magician who dictates “pick a card, any card…”
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
