Form radiating life

by Brian H. Peterson

Charles Rosen (1878-1950) began his career as a photographer in western Pennsylvania but fell in love with painting while still a teenager. This interest led him to enroll at the National Academy of Design in New York, as well as the New York School of Art, where he studied under William Merritt Chase and Frank Vincent DuMond. Rosen began to develop an interest in landscape painting, and in 1903 he and his wife moved to New Hope, Pennsylvania, where he quickly became an important member of the Pennsylvania Impressionist school, producing large snowscapes and spring scenes. His New Hope canvases utilize a simple but elegant compositional style sometimes reminiscent of Japanese prints, and his mature landscape work demonstrates an interest in the decorative patterning of nature.Rosen eventually became dissatisfied with the landscape style, and under the influence of Modernist ideas his work changed radically. In 1920, he moved to Woodstock, New York, to teach at and later direct the Art