About
“Today, with the multiplicity of artistic media it is rare for an artist to focus exclusively on drawing. Yet Rossman’s works surpass the simple sketch or study. Instead, he creates works on paper whose intricate structure could only be achieved with the drawn line.”
Susan Talbott, Director (retired), Wadsworth Atheneum Museum, Hartford, CT; Director (retired) Fabric Workshop Museum, Philadelphia, PA, 2023
“Rossman has established a visual vocabulary that is simultaneously abstract and representational. It is systemized yet spontaneous. His drawings appear to be created, built-up, and realized in a natural, organic way like the landscape itself...”
Leah Douglas, Director of Guest Experience PHL, Art at PHL, Philadelphia International Airport, 2005
“Michael Rossman’s drawings re-create reality through a complex web of intersecting vectors. The prominent intersection points define what he, and we, are experiencing – the world in exploded view…”
Edward Sozanski, Art Critic, The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 12, 2004
Education
Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
Master of Fine Arts 1966
Bachelor of Industrial Design 1963
Awards
National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship, Works on Paper 1992
Mary Louise Bietzel Award for Distinguished Teaching 1995
Wintersteen Prize for Drawing 1973
Lindback Foundation Prize for Distinguished Teaching 2012
Museum of Fine Arts Washington County, MD, Award for Drawing 2016
Collections
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Free Library of Philadelphia
Woodmere Art Museum
Private collections: US, UK, South Africa, Switzerland
Selected Exhibitions
2024 - Cerulean Arts, Philadelphia, PA “Elemental”
2023 - Fairmount Waterworks, Philadelphia, PA “SUBMERGED: A Changing Global Climate”
2021 - Cerulean Arts, Philadelphia, PA “Ten Thousand Storms: Drawings by Michael Rossman”
2016 - Museum of Fine Arts Washington County, Hagerstown, MD, “Artists of the Cumberland Valley”
2015 - The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA “Drawing First + Last: Drawing as a Primary Practice”
2015 - Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA “A Fine Arrangement: the Art of Still Life”
2014 - Cerulean Arts, Philadelphia, PA “Altitudes and Latitudes: Drawings by Michael Rossman”
2012 - Allen’s Lane Art Center, Philadelphia, PA “Michael Rossman: Decades of Drawing”
2011 - The Cosmopolitan Club of Philadelphia, Michael Rossman: Drawings and Photographs from the Tropics”
2010 - Cerulean Arts, Philadelphia, PA “Natural Touch: Drawings by Michael Moore and Michael Rossman”
2006 - The Westtown School, Westtown, PA “Opsis: Drawings by Michael Rossman”
2005 - Philadelphia Museum of Art, “Recent Acquisitions: From Durer to Dogue 2005” 2005 - Philadelphia International Airport, Art at PHL, “Michael Rossman: Drawings”
2004 - More Gallery, Philadelphia, PA “Op-sis (The Gaze): Drawings by Michael Rossman”
1991 - Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA “Artists Choose Artists,”
1983 - Traveling Exhibition: “Affects/Effects 2” Philadelphia College of Art; Philadelphia, PA; Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA; Museum Gallery of the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA; William Penn Memorial Museum, Harrisburg, PA,
1981 - Traveling Exibition, “Artists Who Teach” Philadelphia College of Art, Allentown Art Museum, University Art Gallery at the University of Pittsburgh, William Penn Memorial Museum
1979 - Gross-McLeaf Gallery, Philadelphia, PA “Michael Rossman: Recent Drawings”
1973 - Museum of the Philadelphia Civic Center, “Earth Art ’73” Group Exhibition
1972 - Gross-McCleaf Gallery, Philadelphia, PA “Michael Rossman: Paintings”
Teaching
University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA (1966-2012)
Professor Emeritus
Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, PA (2004-2015)
Faculty Emeritus
Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing , Peoples’ Republic of China (2012)
Visiting Professor
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Faculty; Guest Critic
International School of Geneva, Switzerland (2007)
Guest Artist
Dongsuh Education Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea (2008)
Guest Artist
Design
General Electric, Computer Department, Phoenix, AZ - Industrial Designer
Creative Playthings, Princeton, NJ - Products Consultant
George Mulhauser Design, Paramus, NJ - Industrial Designer
Monsanto Chemical Corporation, - Midland MI - New Products Consultant
Publications
Art and Academe, A Journal for the Humanities and Science in the Education of Artists
Vol. 10 no.2 fall 1998 School of Visual Arts Press
Are our Schools Becoming Emissaries for the Values of the New Technology
Art and Academe, A Journal for the Humanities and Science in the Education of Artists
Vol. 1 no. 1 fall 1988 School of Visual Arts Press
Avoiding the Rote Searching for the Authentic: Freshman Drawing and English as Intersecting and Supporting Courses
Gallery Representation
Cerulean Arts - Philadelphia, PA
267-514-8647 . www.ceruleanarts.com
