1878 - 1950
Although Charles Rosen worked as a photographer in his teens, by 1898, he had moved to New York in order to pursue a career as a newspaper illustrator. Rosen enrolled at the school of the National Academy of Design, under Francis Coates Jones and Edgar Melville Ward. He also studied at the New York School of Art, with William Merritt Chase, and Frank Vincent Du Mond. To support himself, Rosen worked as a cashier in the Criterion Theater. After spending time at the art colony in Old Lyme with Du Mond, his interest in landscape painting developed.
In 1903, Rosen married Mildren Holden, and the couple moved to New Hope, Pennsylvania. New Hope was to be his principal home for the next fifteen years, although he was in Europe with the painter Randall Davey from 1909 to 1910. Along with Robert Spencer, Rae Sloan Bredin, William Lathrop, Daniel Garber and Morgan Colt, Rosen formed to New Hope Group. However, his broadly painted snow scenes of the region surrounding the artist's colony most recall works by his friend Edward Redfield, although Rosen finished his works in the studio.
Rosen became an instructor at the Art Students League summer school in Woodstock, New York in 1918, serving as its director from 1919 to 1921. He moved permanently to Woodstock in 1920, becoming associated with modernists including Geroge Bellows, Eugene Speicher and Andrew Dasburg. Along with Dasburg and Henry Lee McFee, Rosen founded the Woodstock School of Painting in 1922. By the mid 1920's, the influence of these friendship can be seen in Rosen's works. He radically altered his subjects and style, favoring a cubist technique in his dark monochromatic renderings of industrial structures.
From 1924 to 1928, Rosen served as an instructor at the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts. In 1940, he was appointed temporary director of the Witte Museum School of Art in Texas. After Rosen suffered a heart attack in 1942, he returned to his light palette of his early style, while continuing his investigation of the structure and rhythm of forms. His career is unusual as he began as an academic impressionist and advanced to a modernist style.
In 1903, Rosen married Mildren Holden, and the couple moved to New Hope, Pennsylvania. New Hope was to be his principal home for the next fifteen years, although he was in Europe with the painter Randall Davey from 1909 to 1910. Along with Robert Spencer, Rae Sloan Bredin, William Lathrop, Daniel Garber and Morgan Colt, Rosen formed to New Hope Group. However, his broadly painted snow scenes of the region surrounding the artist's colony most recall works by his friend Edward Redfield, although Rosen finished his works in the studio.
Rosen became an instructor at the Art Students League summer school in Woodstock, New York in 1918, serving as its director from 1919 to 1921. He moved permanently to Woodstock in 1920, becoming associated with modernists including Geroge Bellows, Eugene Speicher and Andrew Dasburg. Along with Dasburg and Henry Lee McFee, Rosen founded the Woodstock School of Painting in 1922. By the mid 1920's, the influence of these friendship can be seen in Rosen's works. He radically altered his subjects and style, favoring a cubist technique in his dark monochromatic renderings of industrial structures.
From 1924 to 1928, Rosen served as an instructor at the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts. In 1940, he was appointed temporary director of the Witte Museum School of Art in Texas. After Rosen suffered a heart attack in 1942, he returned to his light palette of his early style, while continuing his investigation of the structure and rhythm of forms. His career is unusual as he began as an academic impressionist and advanced to a modernist style.
