ABOUT THE ARTIST
Muted Belles, 1994, University of Memphis
Gail Rothschild is intimately familiar with the effects of time and decay on art. After graduating from Yale with a BA (cum laude), she embarked on a peripatetic career creating site-specific sculptural installations for colleges and museums. From Jeffrey Lord Amherst and Biological Warfare at the University of Massachusetts to Margaret Bourke White’s clandestine steel mill photographs for Cleveland, each one addressed an under-recognized aspect of local history. A few public sculptures such as Muted Belles for the University of Memphis were permanent, while her finalist design for a Boston Women’s Monument remains un-built. Most of these commissions for institutions such as the Bronx Museum, The Hudson River Museum, The DeCordova Museum, MOMA PS1 and the Socrates Sculpture Park were impermanent, or even destroyed by the artist at the end of installation, simply due to the cost of transporting and storing their elements.
Gail at the Think Big! installation at the Bode Museum, Berlin
Considering her role in the construction and destruction of her own work, and her interest in the ancient world led Rothschild to The Odyssey and Penelope’s cycle of weaving and un-weaving. By utilizing archaic textiles as the subjects of her Portraits of Ancient Weaving series, Rothschild alludes to her affinity with Penelope's struggle. Rothschild charts the craftsmanship and skill associated with the making of each woven artifact, while simultaneously noting the un-making of each surviving fabric piece in the face of time. Her concisely rendered paintings illustrate this defabrication of textiles, capitalizing on an inescapable paradox – what is interwoven will ultimately unravel, and that which grows will inevitably decay. Employing her technical prowess, Rothschild harnesses painting methods rooted in the tradition of the Old Masters. She realizes her source material, actual pieces of linen discovered on archeological digs, as worthy subjects in their own rights, articulating the simultaneous strength and fragility of linen cloth. The resulting Portraits of Ancient Weaving are in numerous private collections as well as public collections such as the Mattatuck Museum, drawing the attention of antiquities scholars as well as textile curators and conservators.
EXHIBITIONS, PUBLIC PROJECTS & COMMISSIONS
2022
Bode Museum, Think Big. Berlin, Germany
German Textile Museum, Krefeld, Germany
2020
Centre for Textile Research, The Colour Blue in Ancient Egypt and Sudan. Copenhagen, Denmark.
2019
Village West Gallery, Slow Art. Jersey City, NJ.
Two Walls Gallery, Gail Rothschild’s Portraits of Ancient Linen. Falls Village, CT.
Katoen Natie, Textiles From the Nile Valley. Antwerp, Belgium.
2018
Village West Gallery, Ancien Régime: the pre-revolutionary world. Jersey City, NJ.
Textile Society of America’s 16th Biennial Symposium, The Social Fabric: Deep Local to Pan Global. Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Godwin-Ternbach Museum, From the Desert to the City: The Journey of Late Ancient Textiles. Queens College, Queens, NY.
Village West Gallery, Ancien Régime: the pre-revolutionary world. Newark, NJ.
Textile Society of America’s 16th Biennial Symposium, The Social Fabric: Deep Local to Pan Global. Vancouver, BC, Canada.
L'Atelier Berkshires Gallery, Viva La Femme. Great Barrington, MA.
d’Art Center, Material: An Exhibition of Original Fiber Artworks from Across the Country. Norfolk, VA.
2017
Daughters of Elysium, Women’s Work. Brooklyn, NY.
Site:Brooklyn, Text & Image. Brooklyn, NY.
Village West Gallery, Four Seasons. Newark, NJ.
2016
Arc’teryx Soho, Climberscapes. New York, NY.
National Arts Club, Contemporary Figures: Form Beyond Function. New York, NY.
2015
Anya and Andrew Shiva Gallery at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The Missing: Rebuilding the Past. New York, NY.
National Arts Club, Portraits of Ancient Linen. New York, NY.
2014
Westport Arts Center, Perception Illusion MAGIC. Westport, CT. Chace-Randall Gallery, Curator’s Choice. Andes, NY.
Bollinger Projects, Gail Rothschild’s Portraits of Ancient Linen. Brooklyn, NY.
2013
Mattatuck Museum, Weaving and Knitting: The Art of Gail Rothschild and Daina Taimina. Waterbury, CT.
Westport Arts Center, Home Sweet Home. Westport, CT.
Joy Reed Belt Gallery, Solo show. Oklahoma City, OK.
Chace-Randall Gallery, Solo show. Andes, NY.
Pierogi Gallery, Unhinged. Brooklyn, NY.
Westport Arts Center, SOLOS exhibition. Westport, CT.
2012
Old Stone House of Brooklyn, Fabrications: An Exhibit by Artist Gail Rothschild. New York, NY.
Eckert Fine Art, Unexpressible Paradoxes. Millerton, NY.
Joy Reed Belt Gallery, Solo show. Oklahoma City, OK.
City Without Walls, Knot Your Average Knit. Newark, NJ.
2011
ArtHamptons, with Eckert Fine Art. Bridgehampton, NY.
2010
Littlefields. Brooklyn, NY .
Eckert Fine Art. Kent, CT.
SHO Gallery, Summer Exhibition. Brooklyn, NY.
2009
PS 122, Yarn Theory: Knitting, Crochet, Math and Science. New York, NY.
Kentler International Drawing Center. New York, NY.
Hewitt Gallery, Viridis I. New York, NY.
Pierogi Gallery. Brooklyn, NY.
Oxfam, Human Countdown. In collaboration with Christopher Caines. New York, NY.
2008
Susan Eley Gallery, Summer Show. New York, NY.
Susan Eley Gallery, Red Dot Art Fair. New York, NY.
Freddy's Backroom, Found in Brooklyn. New York, NY.
2007
Kentler International Drawing Center, Works From the Flat File. New York, NY.
Little Cakes Little Gallery, Drawings for NYC Animal Care & Control. New York, NY.
Artex, Global Contemporary. Kyrgyz Republic, Central Asia.
PS1/MOMA, Emergency Room. NYC/Berlin/Athens.
Stitch Therapy, A Graphic Investigation of Knitted Plane Topology. Solo show. Brooklyn, NY.
2006
Eastern Parkway Associates, Traymore Courtyard. Solo. Brooklyn, NY.
Prospect Owners, Oasis. Solo show. Brooklyn, NY.
2004
New York Fringe Festival, Operation Knockout. New York, NY.
2001
Private Commission, Design for a Horse Farm. Solo. Hatfield, NA.
2000
Private Commission, Piano Garden for a Composer. Solo. Durham, NC.
1999
Private Commission, Gillian's Garden. Solo. Brooklyn, NY.
1998
City of Boston, Women’s Memorial. One of 5 finalists invited to develop design. Boston, MA.
1997
Mead Art Museum, Amherst College. Amherst, MA.
1996
Henry Street Settlement. New York, NY.
Chesterwood, Monument. Curated by Lisa Dennison. Stockbridge, MA.
1995
Jamaica Arts Center, Solo show. New York, NY.
Operation GreenThumb, The Nature of New York. Solo. New York, NY.
New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, Mackintosh Macbeth. New Jersey.
1994
Memphis State University, Muted Belles. Solo. Memphis, TN.
University of New South Wales, Medea Material. Solo. Sydney, Australia.
1993-1996
ICA Traveling Exhibition, Monumental Propaganda. Curated by Komar & Melamid.
1993
Spaces Gallery, Margaret Bourke-White Photographs the Flats. Solo. Cleveland, OH.
The Painted Bride Art Center, Earth Woman Room. Solo. Philadelphia, PA.
City of Memphis, Windows of the Dream. Solo. Memphis, TN.
City Gallery of Contemporary Art, Hot Spot. Solo. Raleigh, NC.
1992
NICAF Yokohama, International Art Fair. Yokohama, Japan.
deCordova Museum, Woman in the 19th Century. Solo. Lincoln, MA.
University of Arkansas, People From Off. Solo. Little Rock, AR.
University of Akron, Rubber Union: Akron/Amazon. Solo. Akron, OH.
University of Massachusetts, Hot Spot. Solo. Amherst, MA.
1991
Rotunda Gallery. Brooklyn, NY.
Hillwood Art Museum, Original Sin. Brookville, NY.
Socrates Sculpture Park, Ploughshares into Swords. Solo. New York, NY.
1990
Municipal Art Society, Garbage Out Front. New York, NY.
Bronx Museum of the Arts. Bronx, NY.
Artists Space, Artists Space Underground. Solo. New York, NY.
Out of the Woods. Fairmount Park. Acid Rain. Philadelphia, PA.
Hudson River Museum, Souvenirs of Nature. Solo. Yonkers, NY.
1989
Long Island University, Making Time in Steps. Brooklyn, NY.
Art Awareness, Shadow of the Last Beast. Solo. Lexington, NY.
Henry Street Settlement, The Hay People. Solo. New York, NY.
Boston University Gallery, Terra Firma? Boston, MA.
1988-1990
Bread & Puppet Theater. Glover, VT.
1988
Museum of Art, Science & Industry, Brick Triptych. Solo. Bridgeport, CT.
Bronx Museum, Burning the Jungle, the Rainforest Burns. Bronx, NY.
Glady Run, Four Views: Muskingum Valley. Summerfield, OH.
NYC Dept of General Services: Operation GreenThumb, Gaia/Mother Earth. Solo. New York, NY.
Clocktower Gallery, Engaging Objects. Cur. Tom Finkelpearl. New York, NY.
1987
Wexner Heritage Village, Sculpture at Heritage Village. Columbus, OH.
1986
The Albany Institute of History and Art. Albany, NY.
New York Capital Area Women's Caucus for Art, Cycles. Albany, NY.
SELECTED REVIEWS, CATALOGUES & MEDIA
German Textile Museum, (Forthcoming exhibition catalogue). 2022
Bode Museum, Think Big! Gail Rothschild Paints Portraits of Late Antique Egyptian Textiles (Exhibition
catalogue) 2022.
Berliner Morgenpost, 1500 Jahre alte Werke in neuem Kontext. Review by Ulrike Borowczyk, 2022
Jüdische Allgemeine, Gail Rothschild malt großformatige Interpretationen antiker Funde aus Ägypten.
Das Bode-Museum zeigt jetzt ihre Werke. Review by Alicia Rust, 2022
Tagesspiege, „ThinkBig!“: Die New Yorker Künstlerin Gail Rothschild ließ sich von antiken Textilien des
Museums für Byzantini-sche Kunst zu Vanitas Bildern Anregen.Review by Rolf Brockschmidt, 2022.
Studies in Late Antiquity. Review: From the Desert to the City. Alicia Walker. Summer 2019
Godwin-Ternbach Museum, From the Desert to the City. (Exhibition catalogue) Essay by Warren Woodfin. 2018
New York Textile Month, New York Textile Month 3. Essay by T’ai Smith. 2018
Anya & Andrew Shiva Gallery, The Missing: Rebuilding the Past. Essay by Erin Thompson. 2015
National Arts Club, Portraits of Ancient Linen. (Exhibition catalogue) Essay by Cynthia Roznoy. 2015
Art in America. International Review. 2009
PS 122. Yarn Theory: Knitting, Crochet, Math and Science. 2009
Interweave Knits. Spring, 2007
Knitting. UK, December, 2006
DeCordova Museum. (Exhibition catalogue) Essay by Nick Capasso. 1997
Chesterwood Museum. (Exhibition catalogue) Essay by Lisa Dennison, 1996
University of Memphis. Muted Belles, 1994
New Art Examiner. 'Hot Spot' at City Gallery of Contemporary Art. 1993
Raleigh News and Observer. The Art of Biological Warfare. Chuck Twardy. August 13, 1993
City Gallery of Contemporary Art. Hot Spot. (Exhibition catalogue) Essay by Eleanor Heartney, 1993
Painted Bride Art Center. Earth Woman Room. (Exhibition catalogue) Essay by Ed Brown, 1993
Windows of the Dream. (Exhibition catalogue) Essay by Leslie Luebbers, Memphis, TN,1993
Boston Globe. Sculpture Finds It's Place in Nature. Elaine Senay. August 9, 1992
Art Papers. Gail Rothschild: People From Off. Mari B. Lee. July/August 1992
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Sculpture at UALR. Susan Pierce. January 17, 1992
Little Rock Public Radio. Interview with Lloyd Benjamin. January, 1992
deCordova Museum and Sculpture Park (Exhibition catalogue), 1992
Staviniger Aftenbled. Natur og kultur I dialog. Trond Borgen. Norway, July 23, 1991
Art New England. Contemporary Sculpture at Chesterwood. Marty Carlock. November, 1991
WBAI. Surviving As An Artist. October, 1991
Art In America. Eleanor Heartney, May 1991
Daily Hampshire Gazette. Sculpture That Moves Us. Patricia Wright. 11.14.91
Union News. Artwork Tailored to Amherst. Anne-Gerard Flynn. 10.10.91
Amherst Bulletin. “Installing a Different View of Lord Jeff.” Bruce Watson. 10.11.91
Daily Hampshire Gazette. Sculpture Hits the BIG Time. Patricia Wright. 9.5.91
The Schenectady Gazette. “Chesterwood exhibit...” Peg Churchill Wright. 7.11.91
The Berkshire Record. “Living Sculpture.” Honey Sharp Lippman. 8.23.91
Mud. Hirsch Farm Project. (Exhibition catalogue) Essay by Mitchell Kane, 1991
The Philadelphia Enquirer. “Sculpture in Fairmount Park.” Marie McCullough. July 30, 1990
WNYC-TV. “Artists in the Gardens.” November 1990
The New York Times. Sculpture For Troubled Places. Michael Bernson. October 15, 1989
Dallas Times Herald. “Connemara Airs Outdoor Sculpture.” Ann Jarmusch. March 19, 1989
Dallas Morning News. “Connemara Inspires Sculptors' Works.” Janet Kutner. 3.18.89
The Boston Phoenix. “'Terra Firma?' at Boston U. Gallery.” David Bonetti. March 16, 1989
Dialogue. Earthworks... Gary J. Schwindler. March-April 1989
The Daily Free Press. “'Terra Firm?'” Monica Siems. 3.16.89
The Marietta Times. Glady Run: Sculpture, Earth Meet. Roger Kalter. 5.28.88
The Phoenix. BACA Shows the State of the Art. A.B. Hsuan. July 30, 1987
Newsday. Taking Part in Downtown Art. Karin Lipson. May 9, 1986
EDUCATION
1981 Yale University. B.A., Cum Laude
1979 Yale in Norfolk Painting Program