NYAB Event - Henry Rothman “Collages”

Henry Rothman “Collages”

Lori Bookstein Fine Art

This event has ended.

Lori Bookstein Fine Art announces an exhibition of collages by Henry Rothman [1910-1990]. This is the artist’s third solo show at the gallery.

Henry Rothman began his art career as a photographer in the thirties, where he found himself naturally drawn to the decay of urban life in New York. The artist photographed everything from ragged advertisements and timeworn shop signs to abandoned homes and buildings in various states of ruin. However, by the late fifties, Rothman began to create unique collages, whereby he maintained his previous interest in the antiquated. The marled surfaces and eroded façades he once photographed were now appropriated by means of torn advertisements and found posters to create formally abstract collages.

A majority of Rothman’s collages are marked by text that was printed on the papers he selected. While some words are certainly legible, most often his use of type was formal rather than referential. Indeed, the pattern of the words across the page and shapes of the individual letters seem to be the artist’s principal concern. In other places, the bellowing curves and harsh angles of the typography only heighten the disjointed rhythm of the collage. Even in the works that contain no text at all, Rothman was able to create such depth in the way he layered the various textures and surface-finishes of each element that at times, his collages seem to deny their own two-dimensionality.

Media

• Photography
• Other

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