LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ -- Ten years of paintings detailing impressions of the Biblical Eve formed by Deborah Rosenthal, professor of fine arts at Rider University, are currently on exhibit at The Joseph Gallery of Hebrew Union College -- Jewish Institute of Religion in New York through July 16, 1999.

The exhibit, titled "Eve's Vocabulary," will provide insight to Dr. Rosenthal's extended study of the figure and theme of Eve. According to essayist Mary Tompkins Lewis, the Biblical Eve is a compelling theme because it allows the artist to shape the familiar moral of her punishing fate into physical terms.

In this exhibition of 19 paintings, Dr. Rosenthal draws from early 20th century notions of abstract art as well as from hieratic and stylized examples of Byzantine and Romanesque art. While many of these works feature tonal, earthen colors in an effort to create a bolder sense of surface effect, the creative tensions shown through dynamic colors and abstract tendencies that have become a trademark of her paintings remain evident.

Dr. Rosenthal, a resident of New York, holds a MFA in printmaking from the Pratt Institute, and also studied briefly with Alfred Russell and Ilya Bolotowsky. She began showing paintings in New York group shows in 1978, and has mounted six solo exhibitions at the Bowery Gallery in SoHo, where she has been represented since 1984. She has taught art at Rider since 1989, and has appeared as an instructor or guest artist and critic at Stanford University, the Kansas City Art Institute, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Chautauqua School of Art, Parsons, and the Queens College (CUNY) MFA program.

Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; and Sundays (April 11 through May 2 only), 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. An opening reception is scheduled for Tuesday, March 16 from 6 to 8 p.m. Dr. Rosenthal will also present a gallery talk on Sunday, March 21, at 2 p.m., as well as a text study and discussion session on Tuesday, April 13 at 6:30 p.m.

For more information on the exhibition, contact the gallery at (212) 824-2205. The Joseph Gallery of Hebrew Union College -- Jewish Institute of Religion is located in the Brookdale Center at One West 4th Street in New York, between Mercer and Broadway.