David Rosenthal: Paintings of the North and South Polar Regions

Rosenthal at first studied physics in college, but graduated from the University of Maine at Farmington in 1976 with an interdisciplinary degree before moving to Cordova, Alaska in 1977 to work in the fishing industry and paint landscapes. By the end of the decade has was traveling to remote villages as part of the Artist in the Schools Program sponsored by the State of Alaska. He later participated in the U.S. Coast Guard Art Program, which put him aboard the icebreaker Polar Star for trips to Greenland and the northern polar ice cap. He has lived in Cordova, Alaska for many years, and after working in the Antarctic for several seasons was accepted into the National Science Foundation Antarctic Visiting Artist program.

David Rosenthal moved to Cordova, Alaska in 1977 to work in the fishing industry and paint landscapes. By the end of the decade has traveled to remote villages as part of the Artist in the Schools Program sponsored by the State of Alaska. In 1988, he participated in the U.S. Coast Guard Art Program, which put him aboard the icebreaker Polar Star for trips to Greenland and the northern polar ice cap.

He has lived in Cordova, Alaska for many years, and after working in the Antarctic for several seasons was accepted into the National Science Foundation Antarctic Visiting Artist program. Rosenthal spent 6 Austral summers and 4 Austral winters in the Antarctic (1 summer and 2 winters as a visiting artist during 1993, 1996, 1999), and has lived in and traveled extensively through the northern polar regions. Throughout those journeys he has sketched and painted the landscape in preparation for making larger studio works. As Rosenthal put it in an interview in the April 2012 issue of Physics World:

"Although I cannot claim to be a physicist by any measure, what I did learn has been the key to the success of my work as an artist. I paint my landscapes using only pencil sketches done at the actual locations. The painting of the scene is more the creation of an abstract structure than just the copying of an image. Understanding the properties of light and colour is important, and I learned about light and colour from physics. More importantly, the scientific method has shaped my thinking. Whenever I am involved in trying to create one of my landscapes, I look for the rational explanations behind what I see. If I can understand something, I can paint it."

Materials include sketchbooks, studies, and exhibition catalogs that trace the evolution of his work from field to studio to exhibition.

• Folder 1: Exhibition Ephemera
• Folder 2: Studies and Journals
• Folder 3: Images of the Artist at Work

• CAE1042: Lita Albuquerque: Stellar Axis, Antarctica
• CAE1103: Joan Myers: Wondrous Cold: An Antarctic Journey
• CAE1107: Stephen Eastaugh: Antarctic Work
• CAE1112: Simon Balm: Stellar Axis: Antarctica
• CAE1117: William L. Fox: Terra Antarctica
• CAE1217: Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid: Ice Music
• CAE1218: Jean de Pomereu: Antarctic Work
• CAE1219: Stuart Klipper: The Antarctic, From the Circle to the Pole
• CAE1307: Chris Kannen: An Antarctic Extended Season
• CAE1510: Kesler Woodward: The 1899 Harriman Expedition Retraced
• CAE1605: Anna McKee: 68,000 Years of Ice
• CE1806: Bruce Licher: Stamping Antarctica
• CAE1910: Helen Glazer: Walking in Antarctica