Celebrating the artistic legacy of abstract painter Judith Rothschild at Moss Galleries in Portland

Moss Galleries will present a retrospective honoring the extraordinary talent and artistic vision of abstract painter Judith Rothschild (1921-1993). “Judith Rothschild Retrospective: Six Decades of Color and Abstraction” features 21 works by Rothschild, curated by Elizabeth Moss and a leading anonymous abstract curator, includes paintings, collages and works on paper from the 1940s through the 1990s.

The exhibition will be on view from July 18 to Aug. 14 at Moss Galleries in Portland and offers a rare glimpse into the evolution of this remarkable artist.

Judith Rothschild was a trailblazer in the art world. Her unique style combined strong outlines with bold swaths of color, creating dynamic and visually striking compositions. In the later years of her career, Rothschild delved into relief paintings, employing white foamboard and later painted metal “cutout” forms, against colored backgrounds to create depth and texture in her works.

With a special connection to Maine, Rothschild’s artistic legacy is also celebrated in the public collections of the Portland Museum of Art and the Farnsworth Art Museum. The artist had ties to Maine through her brother, Robert F. Rothschild, who spent summers in Dark Harbor on Isleboro.

Highlighting the exhibition is the iconic relief painting “Cape Scene I, 1974,” previously exhibited at the Portland Museum of Art in 1988. Additionally, the evocative painting “Dark Harbor,” 1967, offers a glimpse into Rothschild’s visit to her brother’s home in Dark Harbor, infusing her work with personal narratives and memories.

“We are honored to showcase the groundbreaking works of Judith Rothschild, a true innovator in the world of abstract art,” says Elizabeth Moss, owner of Moss Galleries. “This retrospective offers a rare opportunity to experience the artistic evolution of a visionary artist whose impact continues to resonate today.”

Rothschild was an abstract painter whose work mediated the ground between abstraction and representation, fusing the two. Rothschild was born in New York City in 1921. She graduated from Wellesley College in 1943 and studied art at Cranbrook Academy and at the Art Students League with Reginald Marsh, and then with Hans Hofmann in his studio. Rothschild also worked at Hayter’s Atelier 17 in 1943. In 1945, she became a member of the Jane Street Gallery, which was New York’s first artist cooperative. In 1946, Rothschild was elected to membership of the American Abstract Artists Association and later served as president. Rothschild was an early member of the cooperative Long Point Gallery in Provincetown with Robert Motherwell.

Her work is included in the collections of more than 50 institutions worldwide, including Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; The Metropolitan Museum of Art; National Gallery of Art; Whitney Museum of American Art; Museum of Modern Art; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Philadelphia Museum of Art; The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Art Institute of Chicago; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Tate Modern, London; Musee National d’art Moderne, Paris; Centre Pompidou, Paris; and Sammlung Ludwig Museum, Aachen, Germany.

Rothschild’s last museum retrospective exhibition, “Judith Rothschild: An Artist’s Search,” began its tour at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1998, traveled to The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., in 1999 and concluded at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 2001. The exhibition was accompanied by a monograph authored by the renowned art historian and critic Jack Flam. Her final solo exhibition was held at the Von der Heydt Museum in Wuppertal, Germany, in 2003.

Moss Galleries is at 100 Fore St., Portland. For more information, call 207-781-2620, email liz@elizabethmossgalleries.com, or visit www.elizabethmossgalleries.com.