Idol and Idyll: Figure + Landscape in the Work of Deborah Rosenthal and Barbara Goodstein

Curated by Deborah Rosenthal, Professor of Fine Arts, Rider University for the Rider University Gallery.

This exhibition showcases the work of a New York painter, Deborah Rosenthal, and a New York sculptor, Barbara Goodstein, who have known each other for many years, and whose work shows cross-influences and common interests. The exhibition focuses on two aspects of art that have their roots in ancient art and classical themes: the landscape, with or without the human presence; and the human figure, whether in narrative or other contexts. The paintings and sculptures (mostly relief sculptures) in this exhibition were created over a  timespan of more than 20 years, and include relief sculptures on the classical theme of the Three Graces, and paintings  based on the classical myth of the figure of Orion, the hunter. Landscape is explored as a direct response to a plein-air motif, as well as an idealization or distillation of landscape as a locus of human activity. The exhibition will include some 20 to 35 works, depending on size and availability of the work.

Rosenthal is a Professor of Fine Arts at Rider. She is represented by the Bowery Gallery in New York,where she has had eight solo exhibitions most recently in 2007 ,"About Borromini." She has also designed stained -glass windows for Ansche Chesed Synagogue in New York and was featured in a segment on PBS-TV .Her writing has also appeared in art journals such as ;The new Criterion,Art in America and Modern Painter and she has also received an NEA Critic's Grant.

Goodstein is also represented by the Bowery Gallery and has had numerious one-person exhibitions of her sculpture in Philadelphia and New York.She has taught sculpture at Chautauqua,The Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts, and The College of William and Mary.  She has been a resident artist at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts,at Yaddo and at the Albers Foundation.