Madonna and Child from the "Madonna Series"

James Mahlon Rosen

"Madonna and Child from the 'Madonna Series" is an oil painting on white Fabriano paper, done in 1983 by American painter/teacher James Mahlon Rosen (1933-2023). The painting image measures 26-1/2 x 19 inches and is signed and dated in pencil by the artist in the lower image. The sheet measures 30 x 22 inches. The gallery inventory number for this painting is 17640.

This painting is accompanied by an ink study from 1983 for the composition that measures 5-11/16 x 5-1/8 inches and is drawn in a sepia ink on a sheet of cream wove paper that measures 8-1/2 x 11 inches. The pencil signature is very light and does not show in the scan. Its inventory number is QUHI131.

This painting and drawing by innovative painter James Mahlon Rosen (1933-2023) is available from the gallery for purchase, just click on the images or the links to get more information.

James M. Rosen pays homage to the European Masters with this portrait. Rosen distills the moment to its essence, color, planes and light. The details of the Madonna, the baby Jesus and two angels are left to the imagination of the viewer.

The subject of this composition is now universal and classic and has been the subect of countless artists, trained and untrained, over the centuries. For many viewers, the more time you spend with a Rosen painting, the more the content comes into focus, but the viewer has to be involved.

The oil painting on paper is from from the estate of Santa Rosa, California collectors Robert and Evelyn McAleece.

Painter James Rosen was born December 3, 1933 in Detroit, Michigan. He credits early exposure to art at the Detroit Institute of Arts with kindling his desire to draw and paint. After graduating high school he took courses at Cooper Union under Nicholas Mariscano, then completed his degrees at Wayne State University and Cranbrook Academy of Arts. James Rosen died in Queens, New York on February 5, 2023.

Over time he developed an oil and wax emulsion technique that allowed him to layer colors in a translucent manner, with some of his works resembling watercolors such as this painting. These he would paint over with mono-tonal hues he called "veils", so that the works can be "completed by the observer". In an interview with the Museum of Contemporary Religious Art, in St. Louis, Mo on June 4, 2011, he notes that he uses the Aristotelian term "entelechy" - "to hold something back", to as inspiration for this technique. Here is a link to that interview: https://www.slu.edu/mocra/voices-podcast/episode-1-james-rosen.php