Rosequist Gallery

Last updated

The Rosequist Gallery, also known as the Rosequist Galleries, was a significant American art gallery located in Tucson, Arizona that represented and sold Western, contemporary and international art. Originally established as a custom frame shop by Jane and Ivan Rosequist in 1946, the gallery grew over the next twenty years into one of the most important in Arizona and the American West. The Rosequits cultivated and supported emerging artist, represented major American painters and were a touchstone for collectors and institutions. The Rosequists sold the gallery 1968 but it continued under the same name through 2006.

Contents

Background and early years

Ivan Rosequist was born of Swedish descent in Pennsylvania in 1906. He grew up Jamestown, New York, [1] attended Columbia University, and served two years in the U.S. Army. He chased business and worked for Sherman-Williams Paint Co. In the middle of the depression he pursued acting in Hollywood and New York. During this period he met and married Jane Alling before returning to Cleveland in 1934 where he was active in the Federal Theatre Project and the Cleveland Play House. [2] During WWII the couple worked in a factory, Jane working as a machine operator before a desk job and then clerical work.

Jane's sister Priscilla was married to noted artist Gerry Peirce and encouraged the couple to move to Tucson, Arizona. They arrived in 1945 and seeing that Tucson needed a frame shop established a business.

The Rosequists opened a picture framing studio “Rosequist Frame Shop” at 18 South Convent Street [3] in September 1946. Although in later newspaper sources, the open date was noted as 1945. [4] Jane Rosequist reminiscing on the opening said, “There were dirt floors and an outside privy then” The small firm created and manufactured original molding and frames. [5]

By Summer 1951 the frame shop began selling fine prints, [6] created by artists including, Utrillo, Cézanne, and Picasso. [7] The store was renamed “Ivan Rosequist Fine Prints and Skilled Framing.” In November the store presented its first print exhibition “Bird Show” featuring Audubon Prints and work by Martinet, Fawcett, and Catesby. [8] The store continued to grew from a “tiny shop” into a business that included a print room and gallery for originals, a lumber mill for original Rosequist frame molding, and a print shop.

In February 1953 the gallery presented “Old and New Prints,” which included a Maynard Dixon oil painting, work by Winslow Homer, and prints by Moreau. [9]

By November the gallery acquired two large N.C. Wyeth originals which became the base for an exhibit of the best of western art and sculpture from the “old west” which was shown both in Phoenix and Tucson. The exhibition included six Wyeth paintings, a Karl Gillissen oil, two paintings by Charles Lanman, a pair of bronzes and drawings by Frederic Remington, a large Thomas Moran oil on panel, and a large oil on canvas titled “Watchers from the Housetops by Maynard Dixon. [10] The exhibition received national attention and multiple paintings in the exhibit were parched by Lewis W. Douglas for the Southern Arizona Bank and Trust Collection. [11]

Jane Rosequist discussing the development of the gallery in 1968 noted, “Along with framing we acquired a few prints for sale, then we rented two more shops in the building, opened them into each other and made a real gallery [...] We had a slow, gradual growth. After prints, some western Americana was added, sculpture and on to contemporary paintings representing the work of artists through this country and abroad. Our first big sale was [...] when Lewis Douglas brought a group of N.C. Wyeth paintings. [12]

In September 1954, the Rosequist expanded the shop with additional gallery space [13] and by November the shop had been rebranded as “The Ivan Rosequist Galleries.” [14]

The gallery continued to expand until it took occupied almost an entire city block. They represented and promoted Paul Dyck in America, Ross Stefan, sculptor Ruth Pierce and Robert Hartman. Their shows featured works by French artists Philippe Auge and Pierre Sicard, Germany's Max Gunther, Mexico's Francisco Zúñiga, and China's Chen Chi.

Ivan moved to Taos, New Mexico to open a new gallery. Rosequist and actor Raymond Burr secured a lease on the site of the Our Lady of Guadalupe Church that had burned down. They abandoned plans to build and art center but instead opened the gallery in the old Joseph Sharp House on Kit Carson Road called Mission Gallery. Jane remained in Tucson overseeing operations. In 1964 the Rosequis were divorced. [15]

Ivan remarried Rena Oppenheimer. and the couple ran the Mission Gallery, which by 2012 was one of the oldest galleries in Taos. [16]

Sale and legacy

In 1968, Jane Rosequist sold the Rosequist Galleries to Ralph J. Wollheim, a Chicago antique dealer. The name was retained and Rosequist remind the gallery manager for a year. [17]

In August 1969 Jane retired from the gallery stating at the time, “I shall do something, I am too used to working to just stagnate. Perhaps the time has come for me to complete the full cycle and finally start caring a torch for the underdog.” [18]

Ivan Rosequist died in Taos, New Mexico on February 12, 1985.

The Rosequist Gallery continued operation through 2006.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Keating</span> English art restorer and forger

Thomas Patrick Keating (1917–1984) was an English artist, art restorer and art forger. Considered the most prolific and versatile art forger of the 20th century, he claimed to have faked more than 2,000 paintings by over 160 different artists of unprecedented scope—ranging from the Renaissance to Modernism, Expressionism and Fauvism —with heavy emphasis on English landscape Romanticists and the French Impressionists. Total estimated profits from his forgeries amount in today's value to more than $10 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KGUN-TV</span> ABC affiliate in Tucson, Arizona

KGUN-TV is a television station in Tucson, Arizona, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Sierra Vista-licensed CW affiliate KWBA-TV. Both stations share studios on East Rosewood Street in east Tucson, while KGUN-TV's transmitter is located atop Mount Bigelow, northeast of the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leon Pescheret</span>

Leon Rene Pescheret, also known as Léon-René Pescheret was a British-born American designer, watercolorist, etcher, and illustrator.

Ray C. Strang was an American Western artist and illustrator. He was educated in Centralia, Illinois, and attended the Art Institute of Chicago, Art Students League of New York and New York School of Fine and Applied Arts. Strang's education was interrupted by The Great War, in which he was wounded in the Forest of Argonne. During World War II, he took part in the Consair art colony at the Tucson division of the Consolidated Aircraft corporation.

Eugene Henry Mackaben was a regional artist based in Tucson, Arizona known for his simple and grassroots-style paintings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Arizona Museum of Art</span> Art museum in Tucson, Arizona, United States

The University of Arizona Museum of Art (UAMA) is an art museum in Tucson, Arizona, operated by the University of Arizona. The museum's permanent collection includes more than 6,000 works of art, including paintings, sculptures, prints and drawings with an emphasis on European and American fine art from the Renaissance to the present.

Beulah Ruth Bettersworth (1894–1968) was an artist and muralist in the early 20th century. She was most known for her still lifes and street scenes. Her painting Christopher Street, Greenwich Village was selected for the White House by President Franklin Roosevelt and is now in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. She won national competitions to complete post office murals for the post offices in Indianola and Columbus, Mississippi.

Mark Voris (1907–1974) was an American born artist and ceramicist who had a significant impact on the artistic development of Tucson and Arizona, both through his leadership with the Work Progress Administration (WPA) and his tenure as a professor at the University of Arizona.

Madame Germaine Rouget Cheruy (1896–1980) was a French costume designer, artist and intellectual who moved to the United States in 1924. She launched and taught art programs in private schools in Connecticut including the Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, Connecticut. In 1939 she moved to Tucson, Arizona, and in the early 1940s purchased a home with her husband Rene Cheury in the artist colony of old Fort Lowell. She lived happily with her husband in Arizona. She was recognized and best known for wash drawing, etching, woodblocks, painting, costume design, weaving, fiber arts and arts education.

John C. Maul (1918–1998) was an artist, writer and architectural designer whose work contributed to the “early modern” period of art in Tucson, Arizona. He was called by University of Arizona scholar and professor Maurice Grossman “one of the great artist of his time in this area.” His art was seen as hyper progressive and known for continual experimentation of form and ideas. Maul was known for his abstract and nonrepresentational work.

Robert Ray was an American artist, active in the middle to late twentieth century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boris Mirski Gallery</span> American art gallery

The Boris Mirski Gallery (1944–1979) was a Boston art gallery owned by Boris Chaim Mirski (1898–1974). The gallery was known for exhibiting key figures in Boston Expressionism, New York and international modern art styles and non-western art. For years, the gallery dominated with both figurative and African work. As an art dealer, Mirski was known for supporting young, emerging artists, including many Jewish-Americans, as well as artists of color, women artists and immigrants. As a result of Mirski's avant-garde approach to art and diversified approach to dealing art, the gallery was at the center of Boston's burgeoning modern mid-century art scene, as well as instrumental in the birth and development of Boston Expressionism, the most significant branch of American Figurative Expressionism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squaw dress</span>

A squaw, fiesta, Kachina, Tohono or patio dress is an American style of dress developed in Arizona. It became popular during the 1940s and 1950s, and many famous women owned these dresses. It was developed primarily by Dolores Gonzales and Cele Peterson, who were inspired by Native American fashion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tucson Inn</span> Historic place in Tucson, Arizona

The Tucson Inn is a motel located in Tucson, Arizona, in an area now known as the Miracle Mile Historic District. The motel was built in 1953 in the Googie architecture and Modernist style, and is an example of historic 1950s Mid-century modern highway motel architecture.

Carolyn Leigh is an American artist, author, and art dealer based in Tucson, Arizona. She works in mixed media, primarily working in paints, prints, and book art, and is influenced by the art of Papua New Guinea, Sonora, Mexico, and Arizona.

Ross Stefan was an American artist known for his paintings, drawings, and pastels focusing on the iconography and imagery of the American West.

Mary Alice Cox “Mac” Schweitzer was an American artist whose distinct abstract desert style contributed to the development of the “modern” period of art in Tucson, Arizona and the American Southwest. She received critical acclaim during her short life and after her death. Her artistic style was born out of her love of cowboy rodeo culture and blended with abstract figurative representation.

The 261 Gallery was a gallery and art center located in Tucson, Arizona within United States established by Ruby Warren Newby. It served as an important experimental modern art center in Southern Arizona that supported emerging and established modern artists, exhibited cutting-edge and avant-garde work, and enhanced and built a progressive artistic culture in the American southwest. Opened in 1948, the gallery was named for its address, 261 North Court Street in Tucson, Arizona.

Thomas “Tom” Bredlow is an American master blacksmith, iron artist, metal designer, historian and philosopher who was a significant figure in the mid- to late-20th century ironwork revival in the American southwest. He was self taught and instrumental in reviving classical blacksmithing techniques and traditions. During his active career, he developed an impressive artistic style and forged iron sculptures that would come to typify southwestern and American ironwork of the 20th century. His national commissions included gates and other art objects for the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, and public work in Arizona.

Ann Simon Harrison Spencer was an American Modern Artist. Born the daughter of American impressionist painter Robert Spencer and American architect and painter Margaret Fulton Spencer on June 13, 1918, Spencer grew up in New Hope, Pennsylvania and New York City spending a majority of her adult career in Tucson, Arizona where she was an important figure in the Modern Art movement. She regularly exhibited her drawings and paintings in New York and Arizona, was a published illustrator and produced caricatures that appeared in newsprint.

References

  1. ↑ Tarbox, Tom Arizona Republic, Depression? Tucson Hasn’t Heard of It, June 2, 1949, 7.
  2. ↑ Keating, Michelin, Tucson Citizen, Art Dealer Ran One of The Southwests’ Best Galleries, August 29, 1969, 29.
  3. ↑ Arizona Daily Star, City’s Coming Generation Being Made Art-Conscious, October 31, 1948, 39.
  4. ↑ Keating, Micheline, Tucson Daily Citizen, Jane Rosequist Sells Galleries, March 18, 1968, 43.
  5. ↑ Tucson Citizen, Tucson Frame Maker, December 27, 1947, 5.
  6. ↑ Arizona Daily Star, Summer Treat!, July 22, 1951, 20.
  7. ↑ Arizona Daily Star, The Round Up, September 30, 1951, 34
  8. ↑ The Arizona Post, Ivan Rosequist advertisement, November 7, 1952, 13.
  9. ↑ Arizona Republic, Ivan Rosequist advertisement, February 15, 1953, 80
  10. ↑ King, Rex, Arizona Daily Star, Exhibit of Western Art, Sculpture Opens Tuesday, November 1, 1953, 55.
  11. ↑ Stanley, Byrd, Tucson Citizen, New Paintings for Bank Here Attract National Publicity, December 31, 1953, 9.
  12. ↑ Keating, Micheline, Tucson Daily Citizen, Jane Rosequist Sells Galleries, March 18, 1968, 43.
  13. ↑ Edgerly, Beatrice, Arizona Daily Star, Art in Tucson, September 19, 1954, 33
  14. ↑ Tucson Citizen, Windy’s Column, The Ivan Rosequist Galleries, November 22, 1954, 26.
  15. ↑ Tucson Daily Citizen, Public Records, September 11, 1964, 22.
  16. ↑ Sims, Susan Carpenter, The Taos News, Celebrating Taos’ Most Enduring Galleries, May 10, 2012, Z026
  17. ↑ Keating, Micheline, Tucson Daily Citizen, Jane Rosequist Sells Galleries, March 18, 1968, 43.
  18. ↑ Keating, Michelin, Tucson Citizen, Art Dealer Ran One of The Southwests’ Best Galleries, August 29, 1969, 29.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.