GLOUCESTER – The Cape Ann Museum will host an exhibit of the vibrant, large scale works of Judi Rotenberg. Life-long Rockport summer resident and highly-respected gallery owner, Rotenberg has spent 40 years creating vivid, colorful floral still life paintings that capture the fragility and strength of life. Her works will be on view from April 30 to July 3 at the Museum at 27 Pleasant St., in Gloucester.
“Judi’s work could not come at a more important time as spring returns to Cape Ann and re-awakens the region with color and hope,” said Oliver Barker, Director of the Cape Ann Museum. “Her paintings are electric and so inspiring, and we are delighted to exhibit her joyful, beautifully-crafted works.”
Daughter of the late American Impressionist painter and longtime Cape Ann resident, Harold Rotenberg, Judi Rotenberg immersed herself in art since childhood. She earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Boston University where she studied with Reed Kay and David Aaronson. Privately, she studied with Francois Gall in Paris and Henry Schwartz in Boston. On Cape Ann, Rotenberg worked with Albert Alcalay, Barbara Swan, and George Demetrios. Classically trained and accomplished at portraiture, landscapes, and still lifes, she had the honor of being selected as a copyist at the Louvre Museum in Paris in 2012-13.
Working primarily in acrylic, Rotenberg’s recent paintings are unabashedly beautiful, alive with color and motion. Each composition is vibrant and fresh and represents a new challenge for her. Her canvases are rich in detail, from the foreground and the table on which a vase and bouquet sit, through the center of the canvas with its explosion of blossoms, to the top of the composition where she often includes the view across her studio or out over Rockport Harbor.
The tradition of women artists working on Cape Ann is a strong one and through her work Rotenberg has earned a place among the most accomplished of them. Although long overshadowed by their male counterparts, women have consistently made important contributions in the field and continue to today. Many women painters have focused on still lifes, perhaps most notably Nell Blaine, but none have endowed their work with the color and power that Rotenberg has.
In connection with this special exhibition, the Cape Ann Museum will be presenting an encore of its 2019 program, Cape Ann Blossoms, May 14 and 15. Gallery talks are also planned and information on them can be found at by visiting www.capeannmuseum.org.
