Samuel Rothbort Still-life Paintings

there is a label 'Midsummer' verso and remains of an old gallery label or exhibition label. Samuel Rothbort (Russian American Jewish folk artist 1881-1972) was born in the small town...

SAMUEL ROTHBORT (Russian-American, 1882-1971), still life with wild flowers, oil on canvas, signed lower left. Framed measures 42 X 37. Canvas measures 35 X 30 inches Samuel Rothbort (Russian American Jewish folk artist 1881-1972) was born in the small town, shtetl of Wolkovisk in the Russian Woodlands.During his youth he worked as a cantor and traveled to various towns and villages, gaining many impressions of life in that era. Poverty as well as the political unrest of the times led to his immigration to America in 1904. Upon arrival in America, Samuel Rothbort worked as a laborer and muralist eventually giving that up to become a watchman of newly built homes. While on duty he began molding figures in clay and upon the advice and encouragement of his employer and colleagues he began to take his artistic talents more seriously and pursued this endeavor. Rothbort therefore began doing free-hand painting, murals on walls and ceilings for private homes and commercial establishments. In 1909 he met and married Rose Kravitz, which marked the start of his career as an artist. Well known for his scenes of New York City life, executed in heavy impasto. Rothbort exhibited from the 1920s-60s, at the Salons of America, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn Museum, and a gallery at Rockefeller Center; however, he refused to sell his work, and in 1948, opened the Rothbort Home Museum of Direct Art, in his studio-home. Samuel Rothbort was a self taught, naive, outsider artist painting every subject in his own folk art impressionistic style. His artistic range was broad and he never stopped creating. He was fascinated with nature and his works are filled with his delightful perceptions of his surroundings. Rothbort worked in oil, watercolor, and pen & ink. In the years of the depression there was little money, Rothbort could not afford paint or canvas. It was there that he began carving wood and stone using found materials like driftwood, rails, and old fence posts. Rothbort entered the art world and spent much of his life in pursuit of modernist painting and sculpture. He was a member the Society of Independent artists, the Salons of America, the People's Art Guild, and the Brooklyn Society of Artists. During the 1920's and early 1930's , Samuel Rothbort was regularly represented in exhibitions organized by The Brooklyn Museum of Art. Through the 1930's , Rothbort exhibited his watercolors and sculptures at Grant Studios in Brooklyn. In 1940, he began a 28 year relationship with the Barzansky Gallery on Madison Avenue in New York City exhibiting oils, watercolors, and sculpture in individual and group shows. From 1915 through the 1960's, he was represented by many commercial galleries. Hamilton Easter Field, artist, publisher and founder of the Brooklyn Society of Artists was an early supporter of Rothbort's artwork and helped further his career. Rothbort received much recognition for his naive folk art paintings...

there is a label 'Midsummer' verso and remains of an old gallery label or exhibition label. Samuel Rothbort (Russian American Jewish folk artist 1881-1972) was born in the small town, shtetl of Wolkovisk in the Russian Woodlands.During his youth he worked as a cantor and traveled to various towns and villages, gaining many impressions of life in that era. Poverty as well as the political unrest of the times led to his immigration to America in 1904. Upon arrival in America, Samuel Rothbort worked as a laborer and muralist eventually giving that up to become a watchman of newly built homes. While on duty he began molding figures in clay and upon the advice and encouragement of his employer and colleagues he began to take his artistic talents more seriously and pursued this endeavor. Rothbort therefore began doing free-hand painting, murals on walls and ceilings for private homes and commercial establishments. In 1909 he met and married Rose Kravitz, which marked the start of his career as an artist. Well known for his scenes of New York City life, executed in heavy impasto. Rothbort exhibited from the 1920s-60s, at the Salons of America, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn Museum, and a gallery at Rockefeller Center; however, he refused to sell his work, and in 1948, opened the Rothbort Home Museum of Direct Art, in his studio-home. Samuel Rothbort was a self taught outsider artist painting every subject in his own folk art impressionistic style. His artistic range was broad and he never stopped creating. He was fascinated with nature and his works are filled with his delightful perceptions of his surroundings. Rothbort worked in oil, watercolor, and pen & ink. In the years of the depression there was little money, Rothbort could not afford paint or canvas. It was there that he began carving wood and stone using found materials like driftwood, rails, and old fence posts. Rothbort entered the art world and spent much of his life in pursuit of modernist painting and sculpture. He was a member the Society of Independent artists, the Salons of America, the People's Art Guild, and the Brooklyn Society of Artists. During the 1920's and early 1930's , Samuel Rothbort was regularly represented in exhibitions organized by The Brooklyn Museum of Art. Through the 1930's , Rothbort exhibited his watercolors and sculptures at Grant Studios in Brooklyn. In 1940, he began a 28 year relationship with the Barzansky Gallery on Madison Avenue in New York City exhibiting oils, watercolors, and sculpture in individual and group shows. From 1915 through the 1960's, he was represented by many commercial galleries. Hamilton Easter Field, artist, publisher and founder of the Brooklyn Society of Artists was an early supporter of Rothbort's art work and helped further his career. Rothbort received much recognition for his naive folk art paintings...