Michael Rothenstein - artsit

Michael Rothenstein was destined to be an artist with such a distinguished artistic background. Perhaps the most famous father he could have - Sir William Rothenstein the artist, and his brother became Director of the Tate Gallery. Rothenstein's work up until the late 1950s often had neo-romantic influences, and farming subjects being a constant theme throughout his life. In the fifties he worked with William Hayter in Paris, and returned with a different style, becoming the most avant garde of the artists living in Great Bardfield, and the most determined to work on the international scene.

Michael Rothenstein was born in Hampstead, London, on 19 March 1908, Rothenstein was the youngest of four. He studied at Chelsea Polytechnic and Central School of Arts and Crafts, 1924-7. He had his first one-man show in 1938 and during World War II participated in the Pilgrim Trust Recording Britain project. After the war, he taught printmaking at Camberwell School of Art and was Art Fellow at Sheffield University in 1962. Rothenstein became one of the most experimental printmakers in Britain during the ‘50s and ’60s. As well as found objects such as wood offcuts and metal debris, he incorporated fresh 20th century imagery into his relief prints, combining photographic material with traditional woodcuts and linocuts.

Numerous major galleries currently hold his work and he was made Hon. RE and elected RA in 1983.