Brooklyn-born Jerry Rothman studied ceramics in California under Peter Voulkos in the early 1950s and showed among the distinguished stable of artists at Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles that included Ken Price and Billy Al Bengston. In direct contrast to his sculptural forms that followed the abstract expressionism sweeping through ceramics in the 1950s and 1960s, Rothman simultaneously maintained contracts as an industrial designer with some of the leading ceramics manufacturing firms, including Rosenthal China and Gladding, McBean & Co., to whom he sold some of his firing and glazing techniques for use in their Franciscan dinnerware, as well as for use in architectural projects. Using his extensive design knowledge to inform his work in ceramics, Rothman was responsible for the development of new, non-shrinking clay bodies, as well as a technique for high-firing clay to a metal armature in order to create larger scale sculptures, all the while maintaining a steady studio practice and exhibiting his work nationally.

Jerry Rothman’s work is part of the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; and the Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse.