Much can be said about Rosenblum's painting style, however his own words say it best when he wrote: The vertical forms in my work serve as a vehicle for color and also become a dramatic means of achieving movement and deep space. This becomes possible through great variation in the stripe thickness, and the sudden emergence or disappearance of a particular band of color when it overlaps another.
Rosenblum used color to be bold and startling, and juxtapositioned some colors next to each other to create vibration. These diagonal and triangle wedges causes the eye to wonder why; are they based on a system or happen-chance. His work must be compared to Gene Davis from the Washington Color School and Bridget Riley, an English artist that moves the line around and around. Davis almost always stuck to vertical straight stripes with varying widths of color. Likewise, Rosenblum does a variation of Davis creating tilted lines, that sometime become long narrow triangles. They both use bold colors and provide titles to their paintings that add to story-line.
Riley is at the other end of the extreme, she creates lines with wobbles, squiggles, and floats the line into what is known as Op Art. Rosenblum's paintings have overlapping lines that sometimes drive out of their lanes and crash into incoming stripes, creating tension. His work is very reflective of the early 1970s, yet still relevant.
Rosenblum titled this painting, from the Latin phrase "gradus ad Parnassum", meaning "Steps to Parnassus". The name Parnassum was used to denote the loftiest part of a mountain range in central Greece. Perhaps with this title he was bowing to Larry Aldrich, the ultimate businessman, art supporter and collector, when Aldrich had just named him "Artists of the Year" signifying his arrival among the famed visual artists of his time. The other side of this title might be from composer Claude Debussy's composition "Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum" from the "Children's Corner Suite". A lovely and complicated piece that Rosenblum would have known because of his technical music background, he had attended Manhattan's High School of Music and Art, and went on to play the violin professionally. Some claim that he often correlated his paintings with his great love of chamber music.
He created numerous paintings for Aldrich in the early 1970s that were used as gifts or were sold to a new adoring public. The Smithsonian, Archives in American Art did an oral history with Aldrich where he reminiscent about Rosenblum. During this same time, Rosenblum became a part of A.M. Sachs Gallery, New York, frequently showing there, and later at the Blue Parrot Print Gallery, NYC.
Rosenblum was born in New York City and studied at Pratt, Bard and Cranbrook. He taught art at the Dalton School and the 92 Street YMHA. He was an adjunct lecturer at Queensborough Community College and Herbert H. Lehman College, and served as a visual art instructor at the School of the Visual Arts.
His work is at the Whitney and the Albright-Knox Museums and exhibited widely with numerous prizes and accolades. On January 25th, 1989, while on his bicycle he was hit by a M14 uptown city bus that killed him two days later. The bus driver claimed that Rosenblum came into the path of the bus. The accident cut Rosenblum's life short, making us all wonder where his artistic career would have taken him if he had lived into his senior years.
Reference Notes:
Jay Rosenblum, ART NOW: NEW YORK, Jay Rosenblum (Statement), Volume Three, Number Two, University Galleries Inc., NYC, June 1971.
Jaques Catell Press, Who's Who in American Art, R. R. Bowker Company, NYC, 1984, Page 788.
Paul Cummings and Larry Aldrich, Oral History Interview with Larry Aldrich, Smithsonian Archives of American Art, Washington, DC, April 25, 1972.
Jeff Parker, "Three Who Died" - Jay Rosenblum, January 25, 5:30 PM, Transportation Alternatives, 1989.
Rosenblum used color to be bold and startling, and juxtapositioned some colors next to each other to create vibration. These diagonal and triangle wedges causes the eye to wonder why; are they based on a system or happen-chance. His work must be compared to Gene Davis from the Washington Color School and Bridget Riley, an English artist that moves the line around and around. Davis almost always stuck to vertical straight stripes with varying widths of color. Likewise, Rosenblum does a variation of Davis creating tilted lines, that sometime become long narrow triangles. They both use bold colors and provide titles to their paintings that add to story-line.
Riley is at the other end of the extreme, she creates lines with wobbles, squiggles, and floats the line into what is known as Op Art. Rosenblum's paintings have overlapping lines that sometimes drive out of their lanes and crash into incoming stripes, creating tension. His work is very reflective of the early 1970s, yet still relevant.
"Gradus Ad Parnassum"
Oil on Canvas, 20 X 20 Inches
Signed on Reverse: Jay Rosenblum, 1970
He created numerous paintings for Aldrich in the early 1970s that were used as gifts or were sold to a new adoring public. The Smithsonian, Archives in American Art did an oral history with Aldrich where he reminiscent about Rosenblum. During this same time, Rosenblum became a part of A.M. Sachs Gallery, New York, frequently showing there, and later at the Blue Parrot Print Gallery, NYC.
Rosenblum was born in New York City and studied at Pratt, Bard and Cranbrook. He taught art at the Dalton School and the 92 Street YMHA. He was an adjunct lecturer at Queensborough Community College and Herbert H. Lehman College, and served as a visual art instructor at the School of the Visual Arts.
His work is at the Whitney and the Albright-Knox Museums and exhibited widely with numerous prizes and accolades. On January 25th, 1989, while on his bicycle he was hit by a M14 uptown city bus that killed him two days later. The bus driver claimed that Rosenblum came into the path of the bus. The accident cut Rosenblum's life short, making us all wonder where his artistic career would have taken him if he had lived into his senior years.
Reference Notes:
Jay Rosenblum, ART NOW: NEW YORK, Jay Rosenblum (Statement), Volume Three, Number Two, University Galleries Inc., NYC, June 1971.
Jaques Catell Press, Who's Who in American Art, R. R. Bowker Company, NYC, 1984, Page 788.
Paul Cummings and Larry Aldrich, Oral History Interview with Larry Aldrich, Smithsonian Archives of American Art, Washington, DC, April 25, 1972.
Jeff Parker, "Three Who Died" - Jay Rosenblum, January 25, 5:30 PM, Transportation Alternatives, 1989.
And of course, Wikipedia, the land of all knowledge.
©2022. Waller-Yoblonsky Fine Art is a research collaborative, working to track artists that got lost and overlooked due to time, changing styles, race, gender and/or sexual orientation. Our frequent blogs highlight artists and © art movements that need renewed attention with improved information for the researcher and art collectors. The photos and blog was created by Mr. Waller and all written materials were obtained by the Fair Use Section 107, of The Copyright Act. #waller-yoblonskyblogspot #walleryoblonskyblogspot #jayrosenblum #jayrosenblumart
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