Artist

Theodore Roszak

born Poznań, Prussia (now Poznań, Poland) 1907-died New York City 1981
Media - roszak_theodore.jpg - 90525
Courtesy Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Also known as
  • Theodore J. Roszak
Born
Poznań, Poland
Died
New York, New York, United States
Active in
  • Chicago, Illinois, United States
Biography

After art school, Roszak received a fellowship to go to Europe in 1929. He set up a studio in Prague, and on trips to France, Germany, and Austria learned of Purism and Constructivism and became fascinated with the Bauhaus principles of the integration of art and life. After two years, Roszak returned to New York and in 1938 taught at the Design Laboratory, an experiment to transplant Bauhaus principles and methods to the United States. Between 1936 and 1945, Roszak created constructions—three-dimensional and wall-mounted sculpture in which he eliminated all subject matter other than the uncompromising geometric form of the pieces themselves. Around 1945, however, Roszak abandoned Constructivism because it reflected a view of the world he took to be falsely harmonious. Seeking to reintegrate content into his work, Roszak began welding and discovered that surface effects achieved by accident suggested a world of meaningful associations. The forms of his late work, he said, "are meant to be blunt reminders of primordial strife and struggle, reminiscent of those brute forces that not only produced life, but in turn threatened to destroy it."

Virginia M. Mecklenburg Modern American Realism: The Sara Roby Foundation Collection (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press for the National Museum of American Art, 1987)

Works by this artist (8 items)

Theodore Roszak, Recording Sound, 1932, plaster and oil on wood, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1989.25
Recording Sound
Date1932
plaster and oil on wood
On view
Theodore Roszak, Maquette for Eagle, ca. 1962-1966, cut and soldered brass mounted on wood base, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the General Services Administration, Art-in-Architecture Program, 1980.128.15
Maquette for Eagle
Dateca. 1962-1966
cut and soldered brass mounted on wood base
On view
Theodore Roszak, Staten Island, 1934, color lithograph on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1989.15
Staten Island
Date1934
color lithograph on paper
Not on view
Theodore Roszak, Thistle in the Dream (To Louis Sullivan), 1955-1956, cut and welded steel, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.6.74
Thistle in the Dream (To Louis Sullivan)
Date1955-1956
cut and welded steel
Not on view

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      Recording Sound by Theodore Roszak combines painting and sculpture in a unique way. A three-dimensional plaster stage projects forward and backward from the canvas plane to a depth of about three inches. It's a miniaturized opera performed for the modern miracle of the phonograph. Roszak, an accomplished violinist, was so involved with music that he put musical references into many paintings.

      Exhibitions

      Media - 1996.104.55 - SAAM-1996.104.55_1 - 55872
      Abstract Drawings
      June 14, 2012January 6, 2013
      Abstract Drawings presents a selection of forty-six works on paper from the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s permanent collection that are rarely on public display.
      Media - 1986.6.100 - SAAM-1986.6.100_2 - 135134
      Modern American Realism: Highlights from the Sara Roby Foundation Collection
      This exhibition presents some of the most treasured paintings and sculpture from SAAM’s permanent collection, including artworks by Will Barnet, Isabel Bishop, Paul Cadmus, Edward Hopper, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Jacob Lawrence, George Tooker, among others.