Chuck Rosenthal is an oil painter. His beautiful still life paintings adorn homes and offices and galleries. Although he does not paint still life exclusively, he does paint them brilliantly, with contrasting colors, gently cascading sunlight playing on fruits, wine, baskets, bowls, glass and flowers.
There is something about the textures expressed in Mr. Rosenthal's paintings that makes one feel like one could just touch it and feel the temperature, the roughness or the coolness and smoothness of the objects in his paintings. In "Daffodils and Grapes," the artist has contrasted the smooth cool grapes with the textured linen tablecloth and the bright wrinkled daffodils with the smooth glass of the vase that contains them.
Pears falling out of a rough hewn basket contrast to the hard shiny texture of an apple in the foreground of "Fruit Harvest," another of Mr. Rosenthal's still lifes. You can almost feel the soft texture of the pears, which contrasts to the hard texture of the metal goblet nearby. The goblet alone is a work of art - with darkest of dark shadows and nearly white highlights from the light entering the room.
A dark background and wine bottle in contrast to brightly colored fruit and tablecloth set the scene in "Fruit Harvest II." It is easy to imagine the rest of the room to match the heavy brocade tablecloth - brocade drapes and Persian carpets and antique furniture. It is another masterly painting.
In his painting "Teapot and Fruit," the artist leads us into perhaps a kitchen where apples, grapes and a rough hand made teapot rest on a work table. The dark blue of the background contrasts well with the light colored teapot and table, and the roughness of the teapot is in contrast to the smoothness of the fruits. Light barely comes through the dark background - perhaps a heavy cloth covers a window.
The very dark, almost black background in "Roses from the Garden" makes the brightly colored roses pop out in this painting. But the most interesting contrast in this painting is the dark glass bottle which holds the roses - even though it is set against the dark background it manages to stand out due to the light falling on it and the smoothness of its surface. A few soft pears placed in contrast to the hard bottle create depth in the painting.
The subject matter of these paintings is similar to old masters paintings from the 17th and 18th century, but the style of painting lends a more modern touch. The artist obviously studied old still life paintings, but painted the subjects in his own style, a bright and lively style, in spite of the still subjects and shadowy areas of the paintings.
In addition to all being still life paintings by the same artist, these paintings also have in common that they are on display at Park Place Gallery in Leawood, Kansas. View them at www.theparkplacegallery.com under artist Chuck Rosenthal.
There is something about the textures expressed in Mr. Rosenthal's paintings that makes one feel like one could just touch it and feel the temperature, the roughness or the coolness and smoothness of the objects in his paintings. In "Daffodils and Grapes," the artist has contrasted the smooth cool grapes with the textured linen tablecloth and the bright wrinkled daffodils with the smooth glass of the vase that contains them.
Pears falling out of a rough hewn basket contrast to the hard shiny texture of an apple in the foreground of "Fruit Harvest," another of Mr. Rosenthal's still lifes. You can almost feel the soft texture of the pears, which contrasts to the hard texture of the metal goblet nearby. The goblet alone is a work of art - with darkest of dark shadows and nearly white highlights from the light entering the room.
A dark background and wine bottle in contrast to brightly colored fruit and tablecloth set the scene in "Fruit Harvest II." It is easy to imagine the rest of the room to match the heavy brocade tablecloth - brocade drapes and Persian carpets and antique furniture. It is another masterly painting.
In his painting "Teapot and Fruit," the artist leads us into perhaps a kitchen where apples, grapes and a rough hand made teapot rest on a work table. The dark blue of the background contrasts well with the light colored teapot and table, and the roughness of the teapot is in contrast to the smoothness of the fruits. Light barely comes through the dark background - perhaps a heavy cloth covers a window.
The very dark, almost black background in "Roses from the Garden" makes the brightly colored roses pop out in this painting. But the most interesting contrast in this painting is the dark glass bottle which holds the roses - even though it is set against the dark background it manages to stand out due to the light falling on it and the smoothness of its surface. A few soft pears placed in contrast to the hard bottle create depth in the painting.
The subject matter of these paintings is similar to old masters paintings from the 17th and 18th century, but the style of painting lends a more modern touch. The artist obviously studied old still life paintings, but painted the subjects in his own style, a bright and lively style, in spite of the still subjects and shadowy areas of the paintings.
In addition to all being still life paintings by the same artist, these paintings also have in common that they are on display at Park Place Gallery in Leawood, Kansas. View them at www.theparkplacegallery.com under artist Chuck Rosenthal.
