Rosalind Brodoff - Amtrak. Oil on panel. Signed LR. 

Provenance: Estate of Rosalind Brodoff.

H 24 in. W 64 in.

Rosalind Brodoff Video. https://vimeo.com/250167026

Rosalind Brodoff was born in The Bronx NY, January 11, 1926, the second of 6 children, 4 sisters and one brother. Although they lived an impoverished lifestyle during the Depression, the children learned to improvise, their creative spirits, nurtured at a very young age. After she married in 1953, she moved to Connecticut where she and her husband Stanley raised their 4 children. Rosalind always marched to a different drummer, her talent, charm, beauty, and energy were extraordinary. As a consequence she entrusted very few friends and devoted her time to her children and her art. Rosalind was in constant creative pursuit, making quilts, braided rugs, needlepoints, knitting, drawing, and of course pursuing her love of painting. Country life intrigued her, and through her everyday encounters she befriended local merchants, admired their humanity, and saw humor and interest in their stories. Rosalind thereby became a story teller through her paintings, most of which depicted the local merchants in their places of business. Most were immigrants whose intriguing journeys to this country were depicted through subtle symbolic references in her paintings. The durability of solid wood appealed to her, resulting in a body of work on solid wooden boards. Despite her social interactions with those she met through her husband, she saw these merchants as the heart and soul of her community. After her 23 year marriage dissolved, Rosalind’s life took a painful turn. She became increasingly more isolated, feeling victimized by her circumstances, never able to emotionally recover as she felt her family fall apart. There is no doubt that Rosalind may have possessed personality traits often considered by others to be haughty or uncharitable. Her suspicions of others often hindered her ability to establish meaningful loving relationships, her unfiltered opinions often creating friction even with her children. But Rosalind also possessed an undeniable warmth and an infectious spirit, her vulnerability, charm, intelligence, and beauty were expressed with unequalled allure. She was an incurable dreamer, never losing hope for the future. She spent the better part of 40 years immersed into her work, creating a body of work chronicling her local American scene, the fabric of her life. Until the day she died, she had her daily swim and then retreated to her home where she continued to work. Without adequate resources for art supplies Rosalind found whatever supplies were available to continue her creative pursuits, every scrap of paper was put to good use. Unfortunately, on July 8, 2017, Rosalind’s dreams for the future vanished, she died suddenly, alone in her home at the age of 91, surrounded by a body of work that will remain her legacy for generations to come.