Roselle Osk (1884–1954) was an American
printmaker known for her
drypoint
Drypoint is a printmaking technique of the intaglio family, in which an image is incised into a plate (or "matrix") with a hard-pointed "needle" of sharp metal or diamond point. In principle, the method is practically identical to engraving. The ...
s and
etching
Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...
s. Her style was
realist and her subjects were figure studies, landscapes, and seascapes.
She exhibited frequently during the 1930s and 1940s and was awarded prizes by the
Society of American Etchers,
Philadelphia Print Club
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
, and
National Association of Women Artists
The National Association of Women Artists, Inc. (NAWA) is a United States organization, founded in 1889 to gain recognition for professional women fine artists in an era when that field was strongly male-oriented. It sponsors exhibitions, awards ...
.
Her work was often selected for "Best Prints of the Year" shows held by the etchers group.
Early life and education
Osk was born and raised in Manhattan.
After graduating from
Hunter College in 1903 she studied at the
Art Students League
The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists.
Although artists may stu ...
until 1906 and at the
National Academy of Design
The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the f ...
from 1912 to 1915.
At the Art Students League her teachers were
Frank DuMond
Frank Vincent DuMond (August 20, 1865 – February 6, 1951) was one of the most influential teacher-painters in 20th-century America. He was an illustrator and American Impressionist painter of portraits and landscapes, and a prominent teach ...
Henry Reuterdahl
Henry Reuterdahl (August 12, 1870 – December 21, 1925) was a Swedish-American painter highly acclaimed for his nautical artwork. He had a long relationship with the United States Navy.
In addition to serving as a Lieutenant Commander in the U ...
Bryson Burroughs
Henry Bryson Burroughs (8 September 1869 – November 1934) was an American artist and employee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He began there as an assistant to Curator of Paintings Roger Fry, and when Fry left in 1909, Burroughs assumed th ...
and
Kenyon Cox
Kenyon Cox (October 27, 1856 – March 17, 1919) was an American painter, illustrator, muralist, writer, and teacher. Cox was an influential and important early instructor at the Art Students League of New York. He was the designer of the League ...
.
Some years later she also studied at the
Grand Central School of Art The Grand Central School of Art was an American art school in New York City, founded in 1923 by the painters Edmund Greacen, Walter Leighton Clark and John Singer Sargent. The school was established and run by the Grand Central Art Galleries, an ...
.
Artistic career
Osk began her career in 1920 as a painter.
In 1917 she had begun spending the summer months in
Bayport, New York
Bayport is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Islip, Suffolk County, New York, United States, on Long Island. The population was 8,609 at the 2020 census.
Bayport is in the southeast part of the Town of Islip.
Geography ...
on the south shore of Long Island,
and in 1927 she showed paintings for the first of many occasions in a group show held by the Associated Artists of Long Island in
Patchogue.
In this and other exhibitions of the late 1920s and early 1930s Osk showed portraits in oil, pastel, and crayon,
as well as landscapes and a still life in oil.
She began her career as a printmaker in 1932
and, while she continued to show oils from time to time, from the middle 1930s onward she mainly showed drypoints and etchings.
Osk's work often appeared in exhibitions of organizations of which she was a member. In addition to the Associated Artists of Long Island, these included the
Associated American Artists,
Art Students League
The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists.
Although artists may stu ...
,
National Association of Women Artists
The National Association of Women Artists, Inc. (NAWA) is a United States organization, founded in 1889 to gain recognition for professional women fine artists in an era when that field was strongly male-oriented. It sponsors exhibitions, awards ...
,
Grand Central Art Galleries
The Grand Central Art Galleries were the exhibition and administrative space of the nonprofit Painters and Sculptors Gallery Association, an artists' cooperative established in 1922 by Walter Leighton Clark together with John Singer Sargent, Ed ...
, and Artists Equity.
She also showed with self-organized groups, most prominently ones associated with New York's Municipal Art Committee. In 1936 Osk joined with
Will Barnet
Will Barnet (May 25, 1911November 13, 2012) was an American artist known for his paintings, watercolors, drawings, and prints depicting the human figure and animals, both in casual scenes of daily life and in transcendent dreamlike worlds.
Bi ...
,
Kathrin Cawein, and
Betty Waldo Parish to show prints in one such exhibition.
In 1939 she joined with six artists to show paintings in another of them.
Throughout her career she made portraits, landscapes and seascapes, figure studies, genre paintings, and still lifes. In 1941 a critic said it was the portraits that had made her famous.
In 1938 the ''New York Times'' critic,
Howard Devree, said that Osk's prints were outstanding.
A series of four etchings called, "Hands," was widely admired. When shown in 1937 Devree called them "arresting."
When shown again in 1941, the ''Times'' critic, Ada Rainy, said they were effective in their characterization,
and one of them ("The Sailor," shown at left) was included in the book, ''American Prize Prints of the Twentieth Century''.
In her 1941 article on Osk's etchings, Ada Rainey, called "Little Old Lady" (shown at right) "a fine characterization."
In 1942 Rainey described a drypoint, "The Sisters" (shown at left), as "done with understanding of the value of strength of line and the structure of the figures."
In 1953 the ''Times'' critic, Leslie Judd Portner, wrote that Osk's drypoint, "Six O'Clock" (shown at right) was "completely realistic."
As well as paintings, etchings, and drypoints, Osk made
aquatint
Aquatint is an intaglio (printmaking), intaglio printmaking technique, a variant of etching that produces areas of tone rather than lines. For this reason it has mostly been used in conjunction with etching, to give both lines and shaded tone. ...
s and etched relief prints in the late 1940s.
During the 1940s and 1950s Osk held frequent solo exhibitions in Sayville, Long Island and on three occasions held them in Manhattan (1931,
1938,
and 1941
). During the late 1930s and early 1940s juries often selected her prints for inclusion in "best prints" exhibitions held by the Society of American Etchers.
She was awarded prizes in 1938,
1940,
1941,
1945,
and 1946.
Artistic practice
Osk usually produced her drypoints and etchings on presses she kept in New York and at a summer home on Long Island. She usually used a cream-colored Japanese paper and made no more than one hundred of each.
Personal life
Osk was the daughter of Herman and Cornelia Thalmessinger Hellenberg.
Cornelia Hellenberg, who died in 1915, was a director of the
Temple Shaaray Tefila
Temple Shaaray Tefila ( – ''Gates of Prayer'') is a traditionally oriented Reform synagogue located at 250 East 79th Street (at the corner of 2nd Avenue) on the Upper East Side in Manhattan, New York City.
The synagogue was founded in 184 ...
in Manhattan.
Herman Hellenberg was a partner in Hellenberg & Lowenstein, manufacturers of men's neck wear.
The couple had a second child, a son named Lawrence.
In 1906 Osk married Marcus L. Osk,
owner of a prosperous Manhattan real estate business named Merit Realty Corp.
They had two sons, Richard and George, and a daughter, Virginia (Mrs. Kenneth Poli).
Osk died on May 6, 1954, in her home on West 87th Street in Manhattan and was buried in
Riverside Cemetery (Saddle Brook, New Jersey)
Riverside Cemetery is a plot-holder owned Jewish cemetery with over 65,000 burials located in Saddle Brook, New Jersey, located west of the George Washington Bridge. The cemetery maintains over 25,000 individual plantings on graves throughout ...
.
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Osk, Roselle
American etchers
20th-century American women artists
1884 births
1954 deaths
Jewish American artists
Artists from New York City
20th-century painters
Women etchers
American women printmakers