Olga Lea Rosenson Early 20th Century Watercolor Swimmers Beach Scene in Gold Frame

Olga Lea Rosenson (American / New York, 1882-1959) vibrant early 20th century watercolor painting of a beach full of ladies swimming and sunbathing. Signed lower left. Artwork in gold wood frame measures 14.5" x 18.75". Under glass. Artwork and frame in very good condition with light wear.

From Geoffrey K. Fleming, Director, Huntington Museum of Art:

Artist, painter in oil and watercolor, etcher, educator, philanthropist. Olga Rosenson was born in Brooklyn, New York. From the 1920s right up until her death, Rosenson was exhibiting her work in the greater New York area and beyond, including paintings and etchings, and would become particularly well known for the latter. Her paintings were included in the landmark 1930 exhibition featuring the artists of Long Island, which was organized by and held at the Brooklyn Museum of Art.

Rosenson’s works were also selected for traveling exhibitions that went to Europe.

According to one source, the rare book dealer Irving Binkin (1906 – 1989), who owned the Civic Center Book Shop on Pierrepont Street near Fulton Street, bought all the artworks from her estate in 1959 and offered them for sale. Less than a year later, a retrospective exhibition of her early paintings was organized in Brooklyn by the Hicks Street Gallery. The Williamsburg News reported on the novelty of the exhibition:

“The Hicks Street Gallery will open its most unusual show of the year on May 15th, a retrospective exhibition of paintings by the late Olga Rosenson. The pictures, mostly eight inches by ten inches, were painted between 1915 and 1925. They were painted in Bryant Park, Prospect Park, Rockaway Beach, the Williamsburg Public Market and on Fifth Avenue. There is a nostalgic of time and place… here is the shadow of an elevated train, a food market lighted with gas jets, a Fifth Avenue bus, memories of the New York scene of four decades ago… many of her small paintings were rediscovered in a closet in her apartment where they had lain for many years, forgotten… We feel that their rediscovery will establish Olga Rosenson as one of the important American painters of the period.”

Rosenson is known to have participated in the following public exhibitions: National Academy of Art, New York, NY, 1924; Artists’ Cooperative Exhibition at A. I. Namm & Son, Brooklyn, NY, 1927; Long Island Artists Exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY, 1930; Grant Studios, Brooklyn, NY, 1931-34; Brooklyn Society of Artists, Brooklyn, NY, 1933-34, 1943; National Association of Women Artists, New York, NY, 1944; National Association of Women Artists at the Miami Beach Art Center, Miami, FL, 1948; National Association of  Women Artists at the Central Public Library, St. Louis, MO, 1949; Artists Equity Association at Arthur Brown; Brothers Gallery, New York, NY, 1952; International Traveling Exhibition (including Italy and France), 1952; National Association of Women Artists at the Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, MA, 1956; The Hicks Street Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 1960 (retrospective); Country Gallery, Nanuet, NJ, 1968 (retrospective); Argent Galleries, New York, NY, (u.d.); Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn, NY, (u.d.); National Arts Club, New York, NY, (u.d.); Riverside Museum, New York, NY, (u.d.); Salons of America, New York, NY, (u.d.); Whitney Museum of Art, New York, NY, (u.d.).

Rosenson’s works are currently known to be held in the following public collections: The Art Students League of New York, New York, NY; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. The majority of her works reside in private collections throughout the United States.