Title: Abstract Portrait Sculpture
Artist/Maker: Raymond Rocklin (1922-2014)
Date: Vintage, mid-to-late 20th century
Medium: Black clay (ceramic)
Technique: Hand-modeled, textured
Dimensions: Height: 30.5 cm (12 in), Width: 26.9 cm (10.6 in), Depth: 23.5 cm (9.25 in)
Classification: Sculpture / Brutalist Art / Abstract Expressionism
Condition: Good; scuffs and scratches present; wear consistent with age. See photographs for detailed condition.
A brutalist abstract portrait sculpture in black clay by American artist Raymond Rocklin (1922-2014). The surface is characterized by a series of undulating waves which forms the portrait. The sculpture is heavy. It remains in good condition with wear consistent with age, including scuffs and scratches appropriate to a vintage object. Please refer to the photos for details.
Artist Biography: Raymond Rocklin (1922-2014)
Raymond Rocklin was born August 18, 1922, in Moodus, Connecticut, to parents Leon "John" and Rose Rocklin . When he was two years old, his mother died, and the family relocated from their farm in central Connecticut to New York City . Rocklin's father placed him in the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York in Hell's Kitchen . He was later sent to work on a farm in Glen Spey, New York .
Rocklin's art education began with life drawing studies under Abbo Ostrovsky . He received scholarships to study at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, where he won first place for sculpture in 1951, the Brooklyn Museum Art School from 1951 to 1952, and the Cooper Union from 1949 to 1952, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree . He earned a Fulbright Scholarship in 1952, which enabled him to marry Carol and spend the following year living and studying in Italy with some of the great masters of Italian art . That same year, fellow Fulbright recipient Milton Glaser also traveled to Italy, an indication of the influential circles Rocklin would inhabit .
Artistic Career and the Tanager Gallery
Rocklin stood at the forefront of the Abstract Expressionist art movement that began in the United States in the late 1940s and was one of the seminal figures who helped create this unique style of art . He was an original founding member of the Tanager Gallery, part of the 10th Street Galleries, a collective term for the cooperative galleries that operated mainly in the East Village of New York City in the 1950s and 1960s . The galleries were artist-run and generally operated on very low budgets, often without any staff. The Tanager Gallery was the first of these 10th Street cooperative galleries .
Rocklin's preferred media included bronze, steel, and wood . His work is characterized by deeply considered abstract forms and, in the words of one source, is adscribed to abstract expressionism of a poetic line, creating effects of depth in abstract forms with sheets of brass and copper .
Teaching Career and Legacy
Rocklin was a Professor of Art at City University in New York for over 25 years and also taught at many other institutions, including the Brooklyn Museum Education Department, American University, the University of California at Berkeley, and Ball State Teachers College . He served as guest artist at American University in 1956, assistant professor of art at UC Berkeley from 1959 to 1960, and guest artist at Ball State Teachers College in the summer of 1964 .
Rocklin died November 19, 2014, at home in Damascus Township, Pennsylvania.
Museum Holdings and Collections
Rocklin's work can be found in the permanent collections of several prominent museums, including:
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York
Provincetown Museum of Art, Massachusetts
His work is also held in numerous private collections, including those of Walter Chrysler, Mitch Miller, Ned Pines, William Matson Roth, and Colleen Dewhurst . Commissions include wall brass pieces commissioned by Mrs. Beskind, New York (1962) and Mrs. Nina Waller, Baltimore (1963) . Additional institutional holdings include Temple Israel in Saint Louis and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture .
Title: Abstract Portrait Sculpture
Artist/Maker: Raymond Rocklin (1922-2014)
Date: Vintage, mid-to-late 20th century
Medium: Black clay (ceramic)
Technique: Hand-modeled, textured
Dimensions: Height: 30.5 cm (12 in), Width: 26.9 cm (10.6 in), Depth: 23.5 cm (9.25 in)
Classification: Sculpture / Brutalist Art / Abstract Expressionism
Condition: Good; scuffs and scratches present; wear consistent with age. See photographs for detailed condition.
A brutalist abstract portrait sculpture in black clay by American artist Raymond Rocklin (1922-2014). The surface is characterized by a series of undulating waves which forms the portrait. The sculpture is heavy. It remains in good condition with wear consistent with age, including scuffs and scratches appropriate to a vintage object. Please refer to the photos for details.
Artist Biography: Raymond Rocklin (1922-2014)
Raymond Rocklin was born August 18, 1922, in Moodus, Connecticut, to parents Leon "John" and Rose Rocklin . When he was two years old, his mother died, and the family relocated from their farm in central Connecticut to New York City . Rocklin's father placed him in the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York in Hell's Kitchen . He was later sent to work on a farm in Glen Spey, New York .
Rocklin's art education began with life drawing studies under Abbo Ostrovsky . He received scholarships to study at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, where he won first place for sculpture in 1951, the Brooklyn Museum Art School from 1951 to 1952, and the Cooper Union from 1949 to 1952, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree . He earned a Fulbright Scholarship in 1952, which enabled him to marry Carol and spend the following year living and studying in Italy with some of the great masters of Italian art . That same year, fellow Fulbright recipient Milton Glaser also traveled to Italy, an indication of the influential circles Rocklin would inhabit .
Artistic Career and the Tanager Gallery
Rocklin stood at the forefront of the Abstract Expressionist art movement that began in the United States in the late 1940s and was one of the seminal figures who helped create this unique style of art . He was an original founding member of the Tanager Gallery, part of the 10th Street Galleries, a collective term for the cooperative galleries that operated mainly in the East Village of New York City in the 1950s and 1960s . The galleries were artist-run and generally operated on very low budgets, often without any staff. The Tanager Gallery was the first of these 10th Street cooperative galleries .
Rocklin's preferred media included bronze, steel, and wood . His work is characterized by deeply considered abstract forms and, in the words of one source, is adscribed to abstract expressionism of a poetic line, creating effects of depth in abstract forms with sheets of brass and copper .
Teaching Career and Legacy
Rocklin was a Professor of Art at City University in New York for over 25 years and also taught at many other institutions, including the Brooklyn Museum Education Department, American University, the University of California at Berkeley, and Ball State Teachers College . He served as guest artist at American University in 1956, assistant professor of art at UC Berkeley from 1959 to 1960, and guest artist at Ball State Teachers College in the summer of 1964 .
Rocklin died November 19, 2014, at home in Damascus Township, Pennsylvania.
Museum Holdings and Collections
Rocklin's work can be found in the permanent collections of several prominent museums, including:
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York
Provincetown Museum of Art, Massachusetts
His work is also held in numerous private collections, including those of Walter Chrysler, Mitch Miller, Ned Pines, William Matson Roth, and Colleen Dewhurst . Commissions include wall brass pieces commissioned by Mrs. Beskind, New York (1962) and Mrs. Nina Waller, Baltimore (1963) . Additional institutional holdings include Temple Israel in Saint Louis and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture .
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