Talking to a painter like Hugh Yorty or Stanley Lewis is almost the only way to learn about George Rose. These–and other–painters speak admiringly about the intensity and inventiveness of Rose’s work. They talk about coming into a classroom to teach an early morning drawing class and finding the walls covered with drawings, by Rose, who had spent the night in the room, drawing a skull or a certain plaster cast over and over again. They talk about his problematic eyesight and the real poignancy it brings to the work done directly from the motif. Unfortunately, the only available evidence of this painter’s work is one illustration in later editions of Nathan Goldstein’s The Art of Responsive Drawing. I complained here on the blog about not being able to find examples of his work anywhere online just, like, a week ago.
So it makes me really happy to be able to change things in a small way. Here are a few examples of paintings by George Rose from the mid-1970s, when he was a professor at Southwest Missouri State University. (Provided by Martha Mincey (thank you!), who runs the Visual Resources Collection there, and with permission from Mr. Rose.)
After teaching at Southwest Missouri State (now just Missouri State), Rose went on to a career teaching at Boston University and Northwest Missouri State. He is retired from teaching now (let’s hope not from art-making) and lives in Maryville, MO.
There are more paintings to see after the cut.
MW Capacity 
I’m happy to see these.
Thanks for posting this. George Rose was my favorite painting teacher at BU.
I’m in my studio working right now and couldn’t get one of George Rose’s paintings, “The Mechanic Shop” out of my head. Thankfully there area few example of his work here.
This is a great Blog. Keep it up. I have added the MW Capacity link on Midwest Paint Group Beta Site. In addition I have announced MW Capacity to the members of the Midwest Paint Group. I’m sure they will all be checking out the George Rose paintings and the Barry Gealt images. This should also bring them into the rest of your informative and interesting Blog. Congratulation on finding this treasure trove of George Rose’s work
I talked to George on the phone a few years back. Stanley Lewis has been after me to get him an online guest artist show with the midwest-paint-group.org. I had only seen a couple drawings and one painting prior. You may view an additional George Rose painting from the Wright State collection at:
http://midwest-painting-group.org/Al%20Kresch%20at%20WSU/index_3.htm
It is on page 4 of the photo album from the Al Kresch show at WSU.
Thanks for putting these up…Hadn’t known about his work but will look out for it now…The landscapes attract me the most, I think..
Hey. For those not in the know. There exists a Midwestern group of Hard Won Image type painters. In a perfect world, these folks might be in the history books right next to the Bay Area painters. Timothy King has run a website for years, the Midwest Paint Group, that focuses on these painters. You can get there from our links page.
these are really beautiful. does anyone know if in real life they are as blue as they appear on the images?
These are scans from slides made back in the 1970s, so I’m guessing the color is off.
It’s great to see these pieces. They serve as a reminder that “real” painting still exists, even if it’s been driven deep underground. I had the great good fortune to get to know George and to curate a show of his work a number of years ago here at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. We were able to purchase two pieces from that show for our permanent collection, so if you’re ever in the area and would like to see one in the flesh feel free to contact me.
Glenn Cebulash: I don’t know if you’ll remember me, but I was a student of yours many years ago at the Washington Studio School. There was a show of George Rose and Stanley Lewis in the old Georgetown location of the school, and I bought a large piece of his which hangs proudly on my wall. It was the first painting I ever bought, and thankfully the school let me pay for it over time 🙂 It’s a very large beach scene on 4 pieces of paper and it is gorgeous. I would have to guess that it is from the early 90’s–at least the show was around that time. Do you remember that show? Not sure if you were on the faculty at that time, it was very early on. In any case, just wanted to chime in. I had no idea he was so hard to get information on! And glad to see your name pop up and that you are well. Jackie Greenbaum
One thing that I really hope is that MW Capacity proves that painting is not an embattled art form. I was taught that it is embattled, endangered or underground for most of my career as an art student. But it’s not my experience of the world that’s really out there. Sometimes I’m really afraid that talking about painting being underground just becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Fashionable painting can be annoying, but I refuse to see it as a threat.
Unfortunately, there are some great ones that fall through the cracks.
This George Rose work is amazing painting, the space is in the paintings is uncommonly palpable. The invention and intensity seems more than tasteful good painting; it is totally life-affirming to me. I would love to see one in person, thank you.
Yes, you’re right, of course, there is plenty of painting out there and much of it is good, even “amazing” (the Stanley Lewis work on your homesite as case in point, but others as well: Laderman, Cajori, etc.). I think the culture of painting has ceded ground to the culture of “art”. One has to look (and sometimes hard) for painting in the magazines n (do they actually show painters in “Modern Painters” anymore?), the galleries, the museums of contemporary art. Given that marginalization, along with hyperactive and obscene art market, perhaps “underground” isn’t such a bad thing. I applaud your efforts to shine a light on painting now and will continue to check into the site.
I just feel like the way to mount the insurgency is to talk up what’s good, put it into a context where people can see it next to the trendy and market-driven and accept real painting as the vital part of the culture that it is. I just won’t spend too much time worrying about the market or the magazines being unfair. Actually, I’m kind of sad–you’re the first person who’s even mentioned the art market, we’d kept this space all about aesthetics and culture until now. I feel kinda sullied. And I don’t want to discuss it any more in this post. The Rose work is too important; let’s talk it up!
I have to admit I’m someone who hasn’t seen Rose’s work in person. From the slide scans, I’m being reminded of Cezanne and Kokoschka. There is an amazing urgency in many of these.
Thanks for these images. I have been looking for reproductions of George Rose’s work online for so long that I gave up searching. I am one of the people that got to see Rose’s show at WSU as a student there and I continue to be struck by the immediacy of those landscapes, although I have to admit that they are becoming hazy with time in my memory. Any chance someone out there has slides of those paintings and can put them online?
Sam K – I have had the great fortune of having Mr. Rose as an instructor while at Northwest Missouri State University. Mr. Rose often used Cezanne’s work to illustrate painting principles.
It’s been 12 years since I’ve last seen Mr. Rose, but his instruction, encouragement and dedication to art still impressed upon me.
Thank you for featuring some work from this terrific painter.
Chris deserves a lot of cred here, for some excellent blog-journalism, and also, Ms. Mincey at Missouri State for sharing the images.
I too was blessed with being able to study under and learn from George at Northwest Mo State for 5 years. What a wonderful man, brilliant artist and inspirational teacher he was (still is the first two, actually).
His chalkboard drawings were fantastic; he’d be in the middle of writing an assignment on the board and get lost in a doodle turned sketch turned vibrant work of art and then have to find space on the board to finish what he was writing.
His still-lives were breath-taking. And I’m just talking about the scenes he would create in the room for us to paint!
George Rose was my teacher at SMS many years ago. I graduated with a BFA in fine arts in 1972…and George Rose is honestly my favorite memory of my art studies in college. He was a wonderful teacher…and I, too, feel blessed to have learned from him. I still think of him often when I paint.
I am thrilled to find this. From time to time over the years I have tried to find more recent information about George Rose but found nothing, until now.
I studied with George Rose at Boston University during the period 1978-1982. I really admired his work and he, along with James Weeks, was one of my favorite instructors. He always got so excited and animated whenever he looked at art and talked about it; you couldn’t help but be inspired!
Thank you for sharing these images.
I see an undeniable Leland Bell-esque “thereness” that is compelling, particularly in the multi-figure compositions…that reclining couple alone,tucked into the lower right, is worth the price of admission.
An exhibit of recent paintings by George Rose is on view at Farnham Galleries, Simpson College, Indianola, Iowa, Sept. 23-Oct. 16, 2009. George will take questions at a public event on Thursday, Sept. 24, 5 to 6 p.m. in Farnham Galleries. To see one of his recent landscapes and read his artist statement, Google http://www.simpson.edu/art/gallery.
An inspiration!
I too was a student of Mr. Rose’s at NWMSU. He is not only an amazing painter but also a gifted teacher being able to pull the best from his students. I made the trip back to NWMSU for his retirement reception and was deeply moved when I saw the number of his past students rise to recognize him. I am glad I had the foresight to save one of his paper towel sketches he made when helping me work out a problem. I am glad I ran across this site!
I was also a painting student of George Rose (SMSU ’76). One could not help but be inspired,whether he was talking about Corot, Cezanne, Hofmann, or simply the coolness of a shadow as it fell across the figure in the painting studio. I am so pleased to run across his recent landscape on paper. There is such a sense of immediacy and energy in his paintings. I feel so honored to have been one of his painting students-he taught me to “see color”.
I too was a painting student of George Rose (SMSU76). I loved his paintings then and am re-inspired seeing these. Thank you so much for posting them.
His later work at the beach reflects the feeling of being at a crowded beach. His work has that ‘immediacy of place’ and the feeling of burning in the blinding sun. He captures experience as well as scene.
George Rose is a modern day master! I was a student of his at Northwest Missouri State University (1987-1990). Everything about him spoke volumes in art. He is a tall, kind, figure of a man (the painting of him in a blue shirt is a self portrait as a younger man than when I knew him), strong, and yet quiet in his nature. I can still see him in my mind drawing in his cluttered office, his works of art all over the room. He would listen to classical music, and smoke his black pipe in a focused state of mind. You could seem him thinking deeply, and feel his creative presence when he drew. His focus teaching method at the time was based on Hans Hoffman’s push pull theories, a theory I continue to use to this day.
In a class studio session, I was struggling for about an hour, trying to paint an orange that was set up as a part of a still life. George, (Mr. Rose) took the brush from my hand spoke a couple of words about what I should have been focused on, and with three strokes of the brush he had solved the problem. I am thankful for the lessons George gave to me. I mean Mr.Rose!
So great to find this blog….I was a student at boston u from 1976-81. George Rose was a brilliant teacher whom we all admired and respected. I recall him giving a slide lecture in design class with a Mondrian on the screen, and
his getting so excited with the visual forces that he percieved in the painting that he lost himself for a moment and nearly toppled the screen over! It was always a treat
to see him do a demo painting with his trusty palette knife.
His eyes would dart back and forth from the subject to the palette and back again, and then like a snake strike the paint would be on the canvas in just the perfect placement
with all of the vitality of the gesture in full force…Amazing!
It is so great to see some of these images! Thank You
check out this link for a knock out landscape by Rose
http://www.simpson.edu/art/gallery/rose.html
Thanks for the link. I think Sam had posted that painting last year but it’s good that it’s in this post too.
Here’s the link to Sam’s post: https://mwcapacity.wordpress.com/2009/09/21/george-rose-at-simpson-college-ia/
George Rose was my teacher at SMS in the early 1970s and has stayed near and dear to my heart all these years. For me, he was truly a master teacher who helped me understand the importance of the process –be it painting, scholarship or life. I am indebted to him for a deep understanding of the visual language that has served me well no matter what art I approach.
He and I “traded” art when I graduated. He got a small canvas; I got a beautiful oil pastel of an intimate view of the Hudson River. Every day for the past thirty-seven years I have enjoyed the sun-dappled color, light and rhythm of a quiet afternoon while on sabbatical.
I have a drawing that George Rose took over when he could see what I couldn’t see- 1972 – which I still have. He said few words but his actions were magnificent to behold.
I was a student of George Rose at Boston University. It so happened halfway through the year he was moving from one residence to another and I offered to help. He accepted and after a day of moving help he rewarded me with a small
(12″x14″) cray-pas drawing/painting of his. It is a treasure.
The frosting on the cake is George Rose is also a terrific teacher and a profound human being.
One of the most inspirational teachers and role models ever.
I returned after many years away from NWMSU. He profoundly influenced how I paint and how I think of painting. I’m so glad to find his stuff here. Thank you for making these available.
George, had you as instructor at SMS. Took drawing and several painting courses from you. Absolutely the best teacher I have ever had bar none. I have continued to paint, more so since retirement. Loved your work back in 1966 and love your current paintings.
@Glenn Cebulash: I don’t know if you’ll remember me, but I was a student of yours many years ago at the Washington Studio School. There was a show of George Rose and Stanley Lewis in the old Georgetown location of the school, and I bought a large piece of his which hangs proudly on my wall. It was the first painting I ever bought, and thankfully the school let me pay for it over time 🙂 It’s a very large beach scene on 4 pieces of paper and it is gorgeous. I would have to guess that it is from the early 90’s–at least the show was around that time. In any case, just wanted to chime in. I had no idea he was so hard to get information on; I didn’t know very much about him but he was certainly in good company hanging with Stanley Lewis and I fell in love with his work at that show. He had a number of large beach scene paintings in that show which you had to stand across the room to take in. I agonized over which to buy and have treasured the piece on my wall for the past 25 years. To Glenn, glad to see your name pop up and that you are well. To all, thanks for this feed, it was wonderful to get to know more about George Rose. Jackie Greenbaum
I was a student in Rose’s painting class as an undergraduate (SFA ’80). It’s a pleasure to see examples of his vibrant art here. I wonder if it is possible to contact him.
Robert Mayer