Theodore Roszak was born in Poznan, Poland in 1907. His father came from farming stock. His mother was a dress designer and was a court designer for the House of Hohenzollern in Berlin. She was the daughter of a mathematics professor, organist and composer. His uncle was also an illustrator whose historical illustrations appeared in Polish historical texts. They emigrated from Poland and settled in Chicago when Roszak was 2 years old. 

"Drawing was one of my earliest responses. It was automatic. It was simple to do. It was available. There was always some paper and something to scratch with, and I began drawing very, very early in life."

[Harlan B. Phillips Interview with Theodore Roszak, Theodore Roszak Reminisces, 1964]

1922 Attends evening classes at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago

1924 Graduates from high school and becomes a full-time day student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

1926 Travels to New York. Studies briefly with Charles Hawthorne at the National Academy of Design, then begins private instruction with George Luks. Enrolls in philosophy classes at Columbia University.

1927-28 Resumes studies at the Art Institute of Chicago with John Norton. Awarded a Post-Graduate Scholarship from 1927-1929. Awarded an American Traveling Fellowship which enables him to visit museums on the east coast and to practice lithography in Woodstock, NY. 

1928 Appointed full-time instructor of drawing and lithography at the Art Institute of Chicago. He was dedicated to teaching the arts throughout his career. 

Awards

1928

American Travelling Fellowship

Trebilcock Award for Painting

Award for Lithography

O. Goodman Award

Post-Graduate Scholarship

1929

Mural for Goodman Theatre

Award of Silver Medal for oil painting exhibited at World's Fair, Poznan Poland.

Post-Graduate Scholarship

Anna Louise Raymond European Traveling Fellowship

He spends 18 months abroad supported by the Anna Louise Raymond Fellowship for European Study, . 

Paints out of a studio in Prague and visits Paris and other cities in Italy, Austria, Germany, and Poland. Discovers the work of Giorgio de Chirico. Attends the exhibition of Contemporary Culture in Brno, Czechoslovakia. Introduced to Bauhaus ideology by Czech industrial artists and Moholy-Nagy's The New Vision. Acquires an appreciation of Cubism, Surrealism, and Constructivism. Returns to New York and the Great Depression.

Awarded the Tiffany Foundation Fellowship, which enables him to live and work for two months at the Tiffany Foundation Oyster Bay on Long Island, New York. 

Marries Florence Sapir and settles in Staten Island, New York.

They met at a friend's painting studio on 14th street and 6th avenue.

Works out of his small Staten Island studio producing paintings, sculptures, and drawings. Takes a machine-shop course in making and using tools. Begins to experiment with photographing his work and himself, and models, in plaster, a series of free-standing and relief sculptures, which become the basis of some of his first constructions – Crescent Throat, Airport Sentinel, and Pierced Bipolar – in thin-gauged sheet metal, brass, copper, and aluminum. 

Exhibits in the First Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

"While painting, there was this sustained activity in sculpture that was limited to the plaster of paris works. They were highly abstract and, I might say, monolithic, rather than concerned with any openness of space and complex interrelationship of planes, or anything of that kind. I think it was already fairly well intuitively felt that sculpture had an important role and an important part in my whole visual orientation." [ Interview by Elliott with Theodore Roszak, February 13, 1956]

Moves to 241 East Thirty-third Street in Manhattan, where he establishes a studio. 

Finds employment through government-sponsored projects instituted by the Works Progress Administration. 

Buys a lathe and begins to devote more time to sculpture, creating pristine objects and reliefs reminiscent of the polished metal constructions of Bauhaus artists such as Moholy-Nagy, Rudolf Belling, and Oskar Schlemmer. 

1935

The Whitney Museum of American Art purchases Fisherman’s Bride (1934) out of their Second Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting. 

Given a large one-man exhibition – paintings, drawings, and works on paper – at the International Art Center of the Nicholas Roerich Museum, New York.

The painting Seated Figure receives The Joseph N. Eisendrath Prize at the “39th Annual Exhibition by Artists of Chicago and Vicinity” Jan 31-March 10, 1935, The Art Institute of Chicago.

"Over the course of about eleven years, from 1932 to 1945, Roszak fabricated about forty-five constructions, including Crescent Throat and Airport Sentinel (both 1932). As a group, the constructions display structural and formal variance - small-scale reliefs and monumental free-standing sculpture- from the most severe geometric formulations to the most amorphic ruminations...Many are sculptural counterparts to painting; color is an essential skin. They also become a transition to welded-steel sculpture."

[Dreishpoon, Douglas, "Theodore Roszak: Constructivist Works, 1931-47", Hirschl & Adler Galleries, NY, p.10-11]

Exhibited:

1940, Julien Levy Gallery, New York, NY.

1940, Hugh Stix's Gallery.

1956-57 Retrospective at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN.

1978, Zabriskie Gallery, New York, NY. 

1992, Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, NY.

Theodore and Florence settle into One St. Luke's Place in Greenwich Village.

They occupied two floors: one for living and Theodore used another as his studio.

They gave birth to their daughter, Sara Jane Roszak, in 1947 and in 1968 they bought the building.

Today it is the location of the Theodore Roszak Estate. 

Teaches two and three dimensional design and sculpture at Sarah Lawrence College. He taught there for 16 years.

David Smith joined the faculty there from 1947-50.

After World War II Roszak shifted from constructivist sculpture to abstract expressionist sculpture and was one of the first artists in his generation to turn his attention to welded metals as a medium for sculpture.  

"War can affect artistic perception. This was certainly the case with Theodore Roszak, whose work underwent a profound transition in the wake of World War II. Death, destruction, and the devastation of two Japanese cities revealed the darker side of technological progress. What previously had been a positivistic embrace of utopian systems was seriously questioned by the end of the war. Roszak's shattered faith in science and technology was replaced by a renewed faith in nature, in change and transformation, and in atavistic motifs that reaffirmed basic values. He wanted his work to ask questions (rather than posit definitive answers), to provoke, even rankle. He also wanted it to evoke archetypal themes and embody a life force that was destructive as well as constructive."

[Douglas Dreishpoon, "The Teresa and Alvin S. Lane Collection: Twentieth Century Sculpture and Sculptors' Works on Paper", Elvehjem Museum of Art University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1995, p.30]

In 1951, the Pierre Matisse Gallery started representing Theodore Roszak. He had 4 solo exhibitions with Pierre Matisse showing his sculptures, drawings, and lithographs until 1974. He was the only American artist represented by the gallery.

The Bell Tower was created for a non-denominational chapel designed by architect Eero Saarinen on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus. 

"My first impulse was to create a set of verticals and there were three here. The first two converge to a common point and suggest a gothic form and we know that gothic architecture had a very important role in the history of ecclesiastic development and also a gargoyle. The gargoyle was used to ward off evil spirits and to protect the sanctity of the edifice. If you look at it horizontally it would be a whale.  Then the canopy which is also the arch that contains the bell has the common qualities of the universal meaning of canopy in ritual. The canopy is also the interior belly of the whale. We observe and recall how Jonah, caught in the belly of the whale, was actually the first member to institutionalize the edifice of a church, and it was there that he found his salvation and his deliverance."

[Paraphrased from interview Theodore Roszak by James Elliot, 1956, p.17] 

Modernist architect Eero Saarinen commissioned Theodore Roszak to create an Eagle for the US Embassy building in London, UK. Saarinen and Roszak were close friends and collaborated on many architecture-sculpture projects together. 

Saarinen and Kevin Roche (lead designer for Saarinen's studio) are seen visiting the foundry in Beacon, NY during the anodizing process.

Theodore Roszak embarks with his family on a European trip to London, Paris, Venice, and Vienna.

The U.S. Embassy in London, UK was designed by architect Eero Saarinen and Roszak would install the Eagle on the building.

Roszak represented the U.S.A. in the XXXth Venice Biennale along with Philip Guston, Hans Hoffmann, and Franz Kline.

In Vienna, Austria he was invited as part of the US Delegation International Art Congress.

Theodore Roszak was included in the Whitney Annual Exhibition every year for 36 years from 1932 until 1968. 

In 1967 Andy Warhol was exhibited at the Whitney for the first time and Pop Art took precedence in the art scene. 

Armand Grover Erpf (1898–1971) was an art collector, patron, served on the board of the Chamber of Music Society of Lincoln Center and trustee of the Whitney Museum of American Art, businessman, senior partner in the investment firm of Loeb, Rhoades & Co., and at the time of his death the financial architect of New York Magazine.

Erpf's collection ranged from ancient Chinese snuff bottles to avant-garde moderns.

Forms in Transit, 1964

Location: Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, NY in the Northeast of Hall of Science

Description: Large composition on pedestal

Sheet metal and tube metal (aluminum and iron; concrete pedestal)

Form H: 12' W: 14' D: 30'; Pedestal H: 8' to 12' W: 8' D: 15'

Inscription: FORMS IN TRANSIT. THE IDEA FOR THE SCULPTURE EMERGED FROM VARIOUS FORMS IN MOTION HAVING THEIR COMBINED ORIGIN BOTH IN NATURE AS WELL AS IN MAN MADE OBJECTS. THE BAS-RELIEFS ILLUSTRATE EVOLUTIONARY SEQUENCE OF MOVEMENT FROM A SINGLE FIRST STEP TO THE COSMIC SPEED OF A METEOR.

THEODORE ROSZAK SC. 1964

"Forms in Transit is a massive 43-foot long sculpture of aluminum and steel tubes and sheet metal. It suggests an aircraft, with fuselage and wings, but it is also meant to embody the concept of motion and change. The work is in keeping with one of the central themes of the fair, space exploration, and complemented several other significant features in the park, such as the Rocket Thrower statue, Court of Astronauts, Fountain of the Planets, Space Park and the Unisphere."

[Historical Signs Project, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation]

Theodore Roszak was invited to participate at the CHEAR conference in Lima, Peru.

W. McNeil Lowry, Vice President of the Ford Foundation, friend, and collector of Theodore Roszak's work also spoke on behalf of the arts at the conference. 

"The sixth annual conference of the Council on Higher Education in the American Republics (CHEAR) was held in Lima, Peru, in February 1964 to consider special projects and plans in agricultural education, teacher education, and the training of university administrators. North and Latin American university presidents and rectors also discussed the arts and education and the university and its responsibility to the community. CHEAR is an IIE (International Institute for Education) administered program financed jointly by the Carnegie Corporation and the Ford Foundation as a means of initiating and implementing co-operative programs of education in the Western Hemisphere."  

[Institute of International Education, Annual Report, 1964].

Theodore Roszak is elected a member of the Fine Arts Commission, New York by President Lyndon B. Johnson. He holds this position until 1975.

Photo taken in the White House, Washington D.C.

This memorial was commissioned by the City of New York and celebrates and admires the efforts and lives of men and women who dedicate themselves to the sciences and the human race – our sentinels on watch for threats and opportunities. 

Sentinel, 1968, New York City

JE: "What is your attitude about teaching?"

TR: "Somehow we have incorporated the arts in the good old pragmatic spirit of having it work somehow, and we found a place for it in the Academy. In many ways this has been an advantageous kind of situation for the American artist, as well as the average college and university student. I think it has a gone a long way toward making John Dewey's pragmatism more workable than it ever has been, I think it allows for an emotional development and intuitive education of students and at the same time has given the arts a respite from oblivion. I think, however, it is very important not to fall into the easy and charming way of academic life, but that one must always re-affirm one's experiences outside the security of academic walls."

[Theodore Roszak Interview with James Elliott, 1956, p. 42-43.]

At 64 years old, Roszak has his second heart attack.

As a result, his work centers primarily on wild and visionary drawings on subjects of fantasy, satire, politics, literature, decadence, and outer space.

The production of his sculpture decreases in this last decade of his life due to his health. 

2 September, dies in New York of heart failure at home.

Obituary published in The New York Times by Bernard Holland: "Theodore Roszak, Sculptor of Eagle at London Embassy"