JACK ROTH
Featuring Works from a Private Collection
JACK ROTH: Featuring Works From A Private Collection
Over a career that spanned four decades, Jack Roth (1927-2004) built on his early success in the Abstract Expressionist movement to cultivate a remarkable body of color abstract painting. With a sense of graphic immediacy and arrangements of fresh, even color, Roth’s art often incorporated broad shapes of stained matte pigment and an unusual use of line and negative space. His work evolved from the bold brushstrokes of Abstract Expressionism into the vibrant color fields for which he became known later in his career.
Beginning his artistic journey in the late 1940s in San Francisco, Roth studied under influential figures like Mark Rothko, Richard Diebenkorn, and Clyfford Still. Early recognition came when his work was included in the landmark “Younger American Painters” exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in 1954, helping to introduce Abstract Expressionism to the American public. He was one of the youngest artists to be included in this groundbreaking exhibition, alongside Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Robert Motherwell, decades his elder.
Roth was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for painting in 1979. In addition to significant critical success, Roth joined the legendary New York gallery Knoedler & Co which began representing his work in 1978, placing him in a prestigious company of artists such as Helen Frankenthaler, Alexander Calder, Adolph Gottlieb, Robert Motherwell, and Franz Kline and resulted in the successful sales of scores of his paintings until his career was cut short due to health ailments.
An additional feature of Roth’s career was his dual pursuit of art and mathematics.
As a professor of mathematics with a Ph.D. in the field, Roth sought to find a mathematical explanation for art, blending his scientific and creative minds. He famously said, “The art of painting is a search for reality; a search for understanding.” His exploration of these concepts is reflected in his evolving style, from his early gestural works to his later, more refined Color Field abstractions. His later works often showcased vivid hues, stained matte pigments, and geometric shapes, set against wide expanses of black pigment. The soft contour lines in his paintings, which evoke the fragmented forms of Clyfford Still and the cutout shapes of Matisse, further demonstrate his intellectual and artistic mastery.
This showcase features a special collection of Roth’s works gifted to a family member. These paintings, never before exhibited or made available for acquisition, highlight Roth’s remarkable contributions to the postwar American art scene. LewAllen Galleries is pleased to present them in this exclusive showcase.
51.50 x 39.75 in
Humpty Dumpty, 1961 Oil on linen
59.75 x 50.25 in
Blue-Stripe #1403, n.d.
Acylic on canvas
Untitled, 1982
44 x 30.50 in
Acrylic on paper
New Synthesis #2833, 1981
Acrylic on canvas
46 x 25 in
Untitled, n.d. Acrylic on canvas
36 x 93 in
Untitled, 1978
Acylic on canvas 16 x 12 in
Untitled #32337, n.d.
Acrylic on canvas
14 x 14 in
x 50 in
Untitled #3170, 1980 Acrylic on canvas
31
New Synthesis #43, 1981
67
Acrylic on canvas
x 44 in
New Synthesis #27, 1981
92 x 67.75 in
Acrylic on canvas
Parametric Pressure, 1980
67 x 80 in
Acrylic on canvas
18 x 14 in
Untitled #29129, 1978
Acrylic on canvas
55
Untitled #33105, n.d. Acylic on canvas
x 38 in
Thesis III, 1981
90 x 55 in
Acrylic on canvas
66 x 66 in
Ibid #5, 1982
Acrylic on canvas
IV, 1981
66 x 66 in
Thesis
Acrylic on canvas
Untitled #2833, n.d. Acrylic on canvas
30 x 48 in
Rope Dancer #16, 1980
Acrylic on canvas, 32 x 67 in
Untitled #2843, n.d.
Acrylic on canvas
48 x 30 in
Untitled, n.d. Acrylic on canvas
50 x 40 in
Untitled #32335, n.d.
Acrylic on canvas
14 x 14 in
Untitled #29129, 1978
Acrylic on canvas
18 x 14 in
Untitled #46034, n.d. Acrylic on canvas
36 x 24 in
Synthesis XXVII #32260, 1981
on canvas
36 x 10 in
Acrylic
Jack Roth (1927–2004)
b.1927, Brockway, PA
d. 2004, Montclair, NJ
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2021 Works from the Estate, LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM
2012 Jack Roth, 1927—2004: Color Equations, Peyton Wright Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
Jack is Back, (Vallarino & McCormick McCormick Gallery, Chicago, IL
2011 Line Color Equation, Spanierman Modern, New York, NY
When I Grow Up I Want to Be Just Like Jasper Johns, Jack Roth: Drawings from the 1960s, (Vallarino & McCormick) McCormick Gallery, Chicago, IL
1997 Collonades Gallery, Montclair, NJ
1986 Jack Roth Ramapo College Art Gallery, Mahwah, NJ
Jack Roth—Recent Work, Ochi Gallery, Boise, ID
1985 Jack Roth Paintings, Princeton Gallery of Art, Princeton, NJ
Jack Roth, Wyckoff Gallery, Wyckoff, NJ
1983 Jack Roth Paintings, Knoedler & Co., New York, NY
Jack Roth, Acrylics on Paper, Ochi Gallery, Boise, ID
Jack Roth, Milhouse-Bundy Museum, Waitsfield, VT
Jack Roth, Acrylics on Paper, New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, NJ
1982-83Jack Roth: Drawings and Watercolors, Ramapo College Art Gallery, Mahwah, NJ (traveled to Hiram College, Hiram, OH; Sweet Briar College, Sweet Briar, VA; Junior College of Albany, Albany, NY; Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ; New Jersey state Museum, Trenton, NJ)
1982 Jack Roth, Drawings, Ramapo College Art Gallery, Mahwah, NJ
Jack Roth, Rosenberg Fine Arts, Ltd., Toronto, Canada
Jack Roth: Recent Paintings, Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ
Jack Roth, Gallery 99, Bay Harbor Islands, FL (also 1983)
1981 Jack Roth, Paintings, Knoedler & Co., New York, NY
1980
Jack Roth: Recent Paintings, Knoedler & Co., New York, NY
1980
Jack Roth: Ramapo Paintings, Clocktower, New York, NY
Gallery 99 Presents the Paintings of Jack Roth, Gallery 99, Bay Harbor Island, FL
1978 Ramapo Series I, Ramapo College Art Gallery, Mahwah, NJ
1967 University of Florida, Jacksonville, FL
1965 Jack Roth—Goodies, Kornman Gallery, Tampa, FL
1964
Jack Roth: To Interpret Reality, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL
Boxes, Collages, Constructions, Florida
Presbyterian Colege, St. Petersburg, FL
Kornman Gallery, Tampa, FL
Jack Roth, Washington Square Galleries, LaGuardia Place, New York, NY
Hastings College, Hastings, NE
1963 Jack Roth, Drawings, Grand Central Moderns, New York, NY
Jack Roth, Cinema I and II, New York, NY
1962 University of Kentucky Art Gallery, Lexington, KY
1958 Jack Roth, Drawings, Chapel Hill Art Gallery, Chapel Hill, NC
Jack Roth, Paintings, Duke University, Durham, NC
1952 Jack Roth, Gallery 5, Iowa City, IA (also 1953)
Jack Roth Paintings, Hansa Gallery, New York, NY
1949 Jack Roth, Contemporary Gallery, Sausalito, CA (also 1950)
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2001 Abstract Expressionism: Expanding the Canon, Gary Snyder Fine Art, New York, NY
1995
Still Working: New Jersey Artists Over 65, The Gallery at Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Princeton, NJ
1984 New Jersey Curator’s Choice, Robeson Center Gallery, Rutgers University
1982 1982 Summer Group Show, Knoedler & Co., New York, NY
Fall Show, Rosenberg Fine Arts, Ltd., Toronto, Canada
Two Person Show, Gallery of Fine Art, Princeton, NJ
1980 Knoedler & Co., New York, NY
1963
60 Modern Drawings: New Acquisitions, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Graphics 63, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY (traveling exhibition circulated by the Smithsonian Institution)
Jack Roth and Rachel Roth, Paintings and Drawings,
Jack Roth (1927–2004)
University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
1958 15th Southeastern Annual, Atlanta, GA
1st Hunter Gallery Annual, Chattanooga, TN
Knoxville Art Center National Exhibition, Knoxville, TN
South Coast Art Show, Sarasota, FL (traveled to High Museum, Atlanta, GA; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC; Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC; Birmingham Museum, Birmingham, AL)
Some Younger Names in American Painting, Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, MA
1955-56Younger American Painters (traveling exhibition organized by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York),
Portland Art Museum (Oregon); Henry Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle; San Francisco Museum of Fine Art; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; University of Arkansas, Fayetteville; Isaac Delgado Museum of art; Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
1954 Younger American Painters, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
Dallas Young Collectors Show, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, TX
1953 5th Annual Iowa Artists Exhibition, Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA
Exhibition Momentum Midcontinental, Chicago, IL
1952 Exhibition Momentum Midcontinental, Chicago, IL
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, TX
Boise Art Museum, Boise, ID
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
North Carolina, Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC Duke University, Durham, NC University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
SELECTED REVIEWS AND PUBLICATIONS
Veranda (March-April 1999), 164.
Eileen Watkins, exhibition review, Newark Star Ledger, September 25, 1983.
Vivian Raynor, “Trenton: West Coast Expressionism,” New York Times, September 11, 1983, 24.
Tworkov, “El Arte Abstracto Nunca Muere por Ejemplo Jack Roth,” Goya 172 (January-February 1983), 151-152.
Jack Roth, Jack Roth: Recent Paintings, eh. Cat. (Montclair, N.J.: Montclair Art Museum, 1982).
David Newman, “Jack Roth,” Arts Magazine 55 (March 1981), 24.
Valentin Tatransky, “Jack Roth,” Arts Magazine 55 (February 1981), 35.
John Russell, “Paintings by Jack Roth,” New York Times, February 1, 1980, C17.
New Jersey Monthly (August 1979), 112.
Jane Blanksteen, “Interview with Jack Roth,” New York Times, May 27, 1979.
Beverly Savage, “Artist-math prof. enjoys the best of both worlds,” Newark Star Ledger, May 24, 1979, 63.
Judy Juanita, “Montclair’s Guggenheim artist—Abstract Art from a Realist,” The Record (New Jersey), May 17, 1979, D4.
Jack Tierney, “Art Rules Jack Roth’s Life,” The Herald News (New Jersey), May 15, 1979, B4.
“Guggenheim Pries Announced for 291,” New York Times, April 8, 1979, 32.
Egbert Jacobson, exhibition review, Tampa Tribune, April 5, 1964, 7D.
“Young Talent USA,” Art in America 51 (June 1963) 46-47, 52-53.
John Gruen, “60 ‘Drawings’—A Melange,” New York Herald Tribune, August 2, 1963, 9.
Stuart Preston, “Art: Display of Drawings; Works of 46 American and European Painters at the Modern Museum,” New York Times, August 2, 1963, 24.
Art Digest (1963).
John Gruen, “A Chance to Catch Up at Seasonal Group Shows,” New York Herald Tribune, June 9, 1963, 6. Art Digest (1953).
J.J., “Jack Roth,” Art News 62 (Summer 1963), 18.
