First united by their love of editions, Carole and Alex Rosenberg cultivated an outstanding New York collection of graphic art, a reflection of their decades-long engagement with the art world and living artists. In 1969, Alex began to publish artists’ prints under the name Transworld Art, pivoting to the art world after selling the telephone answering service he co-owned, Anserphone. Carole Halsband soon joined the venture as an Associate Editor in 1973, after the two became acquainted at her Upper West Side gallery; her first exhibition featured Salvador Dalí’s Memories of Surrealism, the first print portfolio that Alex published. From 1968 to 1988, Transworld Art published more than 700 editions by over 60 artists, many of whom the couple also represented as partners at Alex Rosenberg Gallery. Married in 1977, Carole and Alex Rosenberg’s collection of prints and multiples reifies their personal and professional relationships with great names in modern and contemporary art, including Alexander Calder, Romare Bearden, Salvador Dalí, and Willem de Kooning.
Alex and Carole Rosenberg Alex, who developed a reputation as an expert in the field of prints, passionately worked as a lauded art appraiser from 1986 until the day he died, passing away at the mighty age of 103 in 2022. His over 60-year career across art and business was ripe with great honors and accomplishments – serving as a pilot in World War II, advancing a plethora of progressive political and social causes, and serving as president of the Appraisers Association of America, to name a few. In the context of these many impressive feats, publishing editions through Transworld Art still stood out to Alex as one of his greatest and most meaningful. “I can’t avoid a feeling of extreme nostalgia over my chance of having been able to work with so many gifted artists,” he recounted. “That was perhaps the greatest privilege of my life.”
Rufino Tamayo inscribing a print to Alex Rosenberg in Mexico, November. 24, 1991. Image courtesy of Carole Rosenberg. “An American Portrait 1776-1976 was not created to either praise or condemn the American culture or history; rather, it was an attempt to show who we were, where we came from, and where we wanted to go.”
—Alex RosenbergAn American Portrait 1776-1976 was not only the project that brought Alex Rosenberg closer to his future wife Carole, who served as Assistant Editor for the edition, but its legacy persists as the most adventurous and elaborate project Transworld Art ever undertook. Published on the occasion of the American Bicentennial, the complete portfolio, spanning three themed volumes, gathered together the work of 33 notable artists and 50 American literary works to encapsulate the spirit of America’s past, present, and future. The volumes, titled Your Huddled Masses, Not Songs of Loyalty Alone, and Look at Beyond and See, are dedicated to different ideological frameworks related to the Bicentennial: the first, to the American “nation of immigrants,” the second to “the present, the efforts of Americans to realize the dreams of our forefathers,” and the third “lends insight into the future, the hopes and aspirations of Americans.”The commemorative portfolio additionally won Transworld Art a newly minted award at the Grenchen Triennial at the 1976 Basel Art Fair. A fair organizer had invited Alex to be part of the juried print contest sponsored by the University of Switzerland, and while customarily, only one print should have been entered, the woman chose five prints from An American Portrait 1776-1976 to be included in the contest. Judged blind, the jury never knew the names of the artists or publishers. As Alex recalled, “As the last round began, 12 prints remained, including all [five] of our prints. [The organizer] informed the judges that five of the prints were from one publisher. Not wishing for one publisher to win more than one prize, the jury created a special award for our prints, ‘The Best Publishers of 1976’.”
Literature
Juan Carlos Pereda 218
Artist Biography
Rufino Tamayo
Mexican • 1899 - 1991
Born in Oaxaca, Mexico, Rufino Tamayo was an incredibly prolific artist working until his death at the age of 91. Half-European and half-Zapotec Indian, Tamayo produced work that was defined by his mestizo, or mixed-blood, heritage. Through his studies, Tamayo was exposed to every artistic school of his time including Fauvism, the classical French school, Cubism and Abstract Expressionism, all of which contributed to his style as it developed throughout his life.
Tamayo reacted strongly against the Mexican muralists who dominated the art scene during his coming of age. Instead, his work is firmly grounded in realism while taking creative liberties in color and composition. His art emulates a unique blend of Cubism and Surrealism, joined with a deep understanding of Mexican culture.
Property from The Collection of Carole and Alex Rosenberg, New York
146
Hombre Obscuro (The Obscure Man), from An American Portrait 1776-1976, Volume 2 (P. 218)
1975
Lithograph in colors, on Japan paper, the full sheet, accompanied by the original paper folder.
S. 25 3/8 x 19 3/4 in. (64.5 x 50.2 cm)
Signed and numbered 'XL/L' in pencil (one of 50 in Roman numerals, the edition was 175 and 25 artist's proofs on Arches paper), published by Transworld Art, New York, 1976 (with their blindstamp), unframed.
Estimate
$1,000 - 1,500
Sold for $2,032
Editions & Works on Paper
New York Auction 22 - 24 October 2024
149
This lot is no longer available.
344
This lot is no longer available.
376
This lot is no longer available.
