Portrait Series #V, Mame Jackson
Artist
Stanley Louis Rosenthal
(American, 1942-2015)
Date2009
MediumWatercolor
DimensionsImage Size: 33 1/4 × 27 in. (84.5 × 68.6 cm)
Frame Size: 39 7/8 × 33 3/8 in. (101.3 × 84.8 cm)
ClassificationsDrawing
Credit LineGift of Marion Jackson, 2021
Object numberUAC6872
DescriptionStanley Rosenthal was a very talented painter and printmaker. He was proud to have been born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. Rosenthal earned his BFA from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and his MFA from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. He taught at Wayne State for 46 years and served as a graduate officer for the Department of Art and Art History, a member of the Graduate Council, and worked with several college and university committees. Rosenthal is described as “a tenacious advocate for the arts, a warm and genuine colleague, and a dedicated teacher.” Rosenthal is the recipient of numerous regional and national awards. He received the top award from both Watercolor USA and State of the Art National Watercolor Invitational twice, along with the top awards from the Michigan Water Color Society annual exhibitions. In 2001, he earned the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, and in 2013 he received the prestigious Murray E. Jackson Scholar in the Arts Award from Wayne State. He was the chair of the Michigan Water Color Society, President of Michigan Association of Printmakers, and an artist and advisor to the Graphic Arts Council of the Detroit Institute of Arts, serving as a juror and speaker at many venues.
Rosenthal captures Mame Jackson’s passion for Native North American art and art of the African diaspora in his 2009 watercolor portrait of her. This work is part of Rosenthal's Detroit artists series in which he painted large-scale portraits of prominent figures in the Detroit art community in the 2000s. Like his portrait of Dr. Jackson, the other paintings in the series are packed with personal references to the subject's interests. Rosenthal employs naturalism to create a realistic rendering of her face. Dr. Jackson is a Distinguished Professor Emerita of Art History and former Chair of the Department of Art and Art History at Wayne State University. She has spent long periods of time in the Eastern Canadian Arctic, where she worked with Inuit art co-ops and artists in art-producing settlements on Baffin. To add, she has traveled to Northeast Brazil where she worked with arte popular (“art of the people”) and artists who are inspired by the rich history and culture of the African-Brazilian Northeast. Dr. Jackson is also the co-founder of Con/Vida-Popular Arts of the Americas, which is “a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting understanding for the diverse cultures of the Americas through the arts.
” The desk in front of her suggests that Dr. Jackson may have been sitting in her office when Rosenthal captured her likeness, but he transforms the room into an Arctic setting. The delicate hues of the watercolors create a dreamlike, wintry aesthetic. Some references to Inuit culture that Rosenthal includes are pencil drawings of a man in traditional Inuit fur clothing and birds above Dr. Jackson’s head. The man stands with outstretched arms in the upper portion of the composition, while the birds split up once they reach Dr. Jackson’s halo and fly downward. Rosenthal also incorporates a row of inukshuks in the background, which, as Dr. Jackson explains, are “stone cairns that emulate the human form and are typical stone structures, often serving as location markers at the top of snow-covered hills, throughout the tree-less Arctic tundra.” Stanley and his wife Kathlyn Rosenthal possessed a passion for Inuit art as well, even building their own inukshuk in their front yard. There is also a row of palm trees near the lower portion of the background, which connects to the tropics and semi-tropics of Northeast Brazil, where Dr. Jackson has worke.
In addition to the Native American and Brazilian influences, Rosenthal appears to include some elements of Byzantine art in this portrait. The painted wood frame around the portrait is reminiscent of Medieval art. The colorful stole around Dr. Jackson’s neck represents the movement of the Northern Lights. Given that a stole is traditionally a Christian liturgical vestment, it may reference Byzantine art of Medieval times as well. Halo forms, such as those around Dr. Jackson's head and the heads of the paper dolls on her desk, were utilized in Byzantine iconography to identify holy figures. Rosenthal scatters building blocks across the desk with the paper dolls. Each block includes intricate details of images such as hearts, trees, a sailboat, a teacup, and fire; they are meant to represent the field of art history. Diverse cultures and time periods build on each other to create impactful narratives. The building blocks, paired with the paper doll also speak to the narratives Dr. Jackson has studied throughout her career.
Written by Angela Athnasios
Sources: Dr. Mame Jackson, "Memorial for Art Prof. Stanley Rosenthal to take place Jan. 15," December 7, 2015, art.wayne.edu, "Dr. Marion Jackson Biography," art.wayne.edu
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