Harold Rosenberg

(1906-1978)
New York

Harold Rosenberg was an acclaimed art critic. We were surprised to learn that he "trained as a lawyer" and, according to Russell Jacoby, "led a checkered career as a poet." [Russell Jacoby, The Last Intellectuals 110 (Basic Books, 2000)]

Harold Rosenberg was born on February 2, 1906 in New York city. He received his law degree in 1927. The biographical sources do not indicate whether Rosenberg ever put his legal training to use. He served as national art editor of the American Guide Series published by the Works Progress Administration, 1937-1941, and during World War II served as deputy chief of the domestic radio bureau of the Office of War Information, 1942-45. He then served as director of the Longview Foundation (beginning in 1944).

Rosenberg's first teaching position was as a lecturer at the New School for Social Research (1953-4). He was also a lecturer at Princeton University (1963) and visiting professor at Southern Illinois University (1965). In 1966 he joined the University of Chicago faculty as professor of Social Thought, where he continued until 1978. During the period, 1966-1978 he was art critic for the New Yorker.

[Source: Christine Nasso (ed.), Contemporary Authors, Volumes 21-24 (Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1977); Frances Carol Locher (ed.), Contemporary Authors, Volumes 77-80 (Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1979); Susan M. Trosky (ed.), Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series, Volume 39 (Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1992)]

Poetry

Harold Rosenberg, Trance above the Streets (New York: The Greystone Press, 1942)(New York: The Gotham Bookmart Press, 1942)

Writings

Harold Rosenberg, The Tradition of the New (New York: Horizon Press, 1959)(New York: Horizon Press, 1960)(New York: Grove Press, 1961)(London: Thames and Hudson, 1962)(New York: McGraw-Hill, 1965)(London: Paladin, 1970)(Freeport, New York: Books for Libraries Press, 1971)(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982)(New York: Da Capo Press, 1994)

______________, Arshile Gorky: The Man, the Time, the Idea (New York: Horizon Press, 1962)(New York: Grove Press, 1962)(New York: Sheepmeadow Press/Flying Point Books, 1962)(New York: Sheepmeadow Press/Flying Point Books, 1980)

______________, The Anxious Object; Art Today and Its Audience (New York: Horizon Press, 1964)(London: Thames and Hudson, 1965)(New York: Horizon Press, 1966)(New York: Mentor Book, 1966)(New York: New American Library, 1969)(New York: Collier Books, 1973)(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982)

______________, Artworks and Packages (New York: Horizon Press, 1969)(London: Thames & Hudson, 1969)(New York: Dell, 1971)(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982)

______________, Act and the Actor; Making the Self (New York: World Pub. Co., 1970)(New York: World Pub. Co., 1972)(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983)

______________, Barnett Newman: Broken Obelisk and Other Sculptures (Seattle: Published for the Henry Art Gallery by the University of Washington Press, 1971)

______________, The De-definition of Art; Action Art to Pop to Earthworks (New York: Horizon Press, 1972)(London: Secker & Warburg, 1972)(New York: Collier Books, 1973)(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983) [La dé-définition de l'art, Nîmes: J. Chambon, 1992]

______________, Discovering the Present: Three Decades in Art, Culture, and Politics (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973)(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976)

______________, Willem De Kooning (New York: Abrams, 1974)

______________, Art on the Edge: Creators and Situations (New York: Macmillan, 1975)(London: Secker and Warburg, 1976)(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983)

______________, Barnett Newman (New York: Abrams, 1978)(New York: H.N. Abrams, 1994)

______________, Saul Steinberg (New York: A. Deutsch, in association with the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1979)

______________, Art & Other Serious Matters (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985)

______________, The Case of the Baffled Radical (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985)