Page 293 - The Legacy of Abraham Rothstein - text

Introduction to the sculpture

problems; but the lack of any means of dating all (or even most of)
the pieces obviates tracking that (or any other) influence.
Of greater hindrance to his carving was his obstinate pride in
refusing outside help in obtaining proper tools and raw materials.
Good-quality chisels and pieces of cured hardwood or quarried
blocks of alabaster were not entirely beyond his means, but he
preferred to make do with what was at hand. This may have
unintentionally insulated him from potentially distracting contacts
with the world of commercial and amateur practitioners of his art,
and thereby protected the purity of the “folk” or naive strain in his
works; that is a matter of conjecture.
Certainly, by picking up boulders and freshly-sawn tree limbs
along the roadside and sharpening his junkyard chisels on an old
hand-cranked grinder, AR presented himself with unnecessary
challenges. It may, of course, be consistent with his psychology that
the physical aspects of carving had to be difficult in order to be
rewarding, that every creative accomplishment was also a triumph
over adversity (see his granddaughter Judith’s reminiscences, in this
connection). And if he had paid nothing for the means of
production, then so much the better: he had beaten the system as
well (the comments of his daughter Carmel, nephew David and son-
in-law Max are instructive in appreciating this aspect of the artist’s
modus operandi).
But AR did crave some recognition for his artistic endeavors, even
though this meant participating to some extent in social transactions
he otherwise largely avoided. He evidently considered it an honor
bestowed when he presented some worthy individual with a piece of
his sculpture (many of which must now be counted among the
missing, recorded in photographs alone). And he took pleasure in
having his works publicly exhibited. A one-man show was arranged at
the Westside Jewish Community Center in the late 1950s; no
documentation of this remains, but some of the pieces bear remnants
of labels attached by persons outside the family. But twice his pieces
were accepted for juried exhibitions of art open to all local artists,
amateur and professional, at the old Los Angeles County Museum,
and the catalogues were preserved by Carmel Winkler. In the 1958
show, an AR piece entitled “Pondering” is listed—but unfortunately
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