Resume

MEL ROSENTHAL
PHOTOGRAPHER

 

EDUCATION
1967 Ph.D. University of Connecticut, English Literature/American Studies
1961 B.A. City College of New York

TEACHING
1975-Present
Empire State College, SUNY/Distinguished Professor of Art & Director of Photography Programs in N.Y.C.
1967-1974
Vassar College – Taught the Contemporary Press, Mass Media and Journalism.

EXHIBITIONS:
One Person Shows:
• The United States State Department in association with the Museum of the City of New York is now traveling AMERICANS BY CHOICE. This year the show opened at the Mid-East Photography festival in Aleppo,
• Syria and will be traveling to Damascus, Beirut, and Amman, Jordan.
• American Immigration Law Foundation Gallery, Washington, DC, AMERICANS BY CHOICE: ARAB AMERICAN LIFE IN NEW YORK 1/03-3/03
• Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA, AMERICANS BY CHOICE: ARAB AMERICAN LIFE IN NEW YORK AND PENNSYLVANIA 8/4-10/27/02
• Alice Austen Home Museum, Staten Island, NY, REFUGE 3/02-6/02
• Museum of the City of New York, A COMMUNITY OF MANY VOICES: ARAB AMERICAN LIFE IN NEW YORK 3/02-9/02
• Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY, REFUGE 7/01-9/01
• Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, Philadelphia, PA. REFUGE 10/00-1/01
• Ellis Island Immigration Museum, PHOTOGRAPHS OF NEW IMMIGRANTS, 6/00-10/00
• Tyler Art Gallery, SUNY/Oswego, NY, REFUGE 3/00-4/00
• Roberson Museum, Binghamton, NY, REFUGE (with new pictures of 4 refugee families who now live in Binghamton) 9/99-2/00
• New York Historical Society, NYC, REFUGE (with new pictures of Tibetans and Palestinians) 4/99-7/99
• Munson Williams Proctor Institute, Utica, NY, REFUGE (with new pictures of refugees from Utica 2/97-4/98
• New York State Museum, Albany, NY, REFUGE 5/97-10/97
• DuBois Gallery, Lehigh University, PA. DISPLACED (A Retrospective) (1/96-3/96)
• Universidad de Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, P.R. VILLA SIN MIEDO, PRESENTE! 9/95-1/96
• Museo De Vieques, Puerto Rico, VILLA SIN MIEDO, PRESENTE! 7/94-11/94
• Syracuse Stage Gallery, Syracuse, NEW NEIGHBORS IN OUR TOWN (Portraits of refugees who live in Syracuse to go with a run of “Our Town” 3/94
• Syracuse Stage Gallery, Syracuse, HOMELESSNESS (Photographs from my book on homelessness to go with run of “A Christmas Carol” 11/93-1/94
• Univ. De Costa Rica/Museo de Arte, San Jose, Costa Rica SIN FRONTERAS: FOTOS DE AMERICA LATINA 9/90
• Labor Gallery, Van Arsdale School of Labor Studies, NYC. TIPITAPA, NICARAGUA 10/89
• Fototeca, Habana, Cuba. PHOTOGRAPHS OF NEW YORK CITY 11/88
• Univ. De Costa Rica, San Jose, Costa Rica EN EL SUR DEL BRONX 11/87
• Goddard Riverside Gallery, NYC, TIPITAPA, NICARAGUA 10/87
• S.U.N.Y. at Stoney Brook, NEW WORK 5/87
• PS 1, Long Island City, N.Y. IN THE SOUTH BRONX OF AMERICA 1/87
• Consejo de Fotografia; Caracas, Venezuela. SIN FRONTERAS: FOTOS DE AMERICA LATINA Y EL SUR DEL BRONX (3/86)
• Mason Gross School of Art, Rutgers University, NJ. PORTRAITS, 2/85
• Multi-Cultural Art Center; San Diego, CA. VILLA SIN MIEDO 5/84
• Lowe Art Gallery, Syracuse University; Syracuse, NY. IN THE SOUTH BRONX OF AMERICA, 10/84
• Bread and Roses Gallery, NYC. IN THE SOUTH BRONX 11/81
• Taller Latino Americano; NYC, VILLA SIN MIEDO 11/82

Selected Group Shows:
• IMAGES OF CUBA: NORTH AMERICAN ARTISTS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS LOOK AT CUBA, (Lehigh University Galleries, Curated by Ricardo Viera. Besides having photographs in the show. I am writing the catalogue essay. .
• THE WORLD’S RELIGIONS IN BROOKLYN, My photographs of Palestinian Muslims, Cambodian Buddhists, and Afro Caribbean Hindus who live in Brooklyn (A new part of my series of exhibits about people seeking refuge and choosing to be Americans.)
• HERE IS NEW YORK My photographs from the result of the attack on the World Trade Center have been exhibited in HERE IS NEW YORK shows all over the United States and in London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Dublin, and so many other places that I can’t keep track of them.
• HOPE! Madame Tussauds in New York City and in Europe. (Photographs of the workers in Zone Zero after the attack on the World Trade Center.) 9/02 – the present.
• BEGGARS AND CHOOSERS: MOTHERHOOD IS NOT A CLASS PRIVILAGE IN AMERICA, A major exhibition curated by Rickie Solinger and Kay Obering which is touring the United States and has gone to more than 15 venues including the Birmingham Alabama Civil Rights Institute, Hampshire College, Drake University University of California at Santa Barbara, Skidmore College, Hamilton College, St. Lawrence University, SUNY Fredonia’s Rockefeller Gallery, University of Colorado, University of Mississippi, and Evergreen College. Other galleries are planning to exhibit this later.
• International Center for Photography, photographs from IN THE SOUTH BRONX OF AMERICA as part of Martha Rosler’s retrospective show of her work and the work she has curated.
• Jewish Museum, New York, NEW YORK CAPITAL OF PHOTOGRAPHY 4/28-9/2/02
• The Museums at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY, New Neighbors 2/00-7/00
• Bronx Museum of Art, Urban Mythologies: Artists Look at the Bronx, (4/99-8/99)
• Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, Trial By Water, (11/97-12/97)
• Milton J. Weil Art Gallery, NYC, In Search of Promise: Immigration in America, (9/97-12/97)
• A Nation of Strangers (Points of Entry) A Major exhibit toured the United States curated by Arthur Ollman and Vicki Goldberg It has been shown at over a dozen major museums.
• Hostos Gallery, Bronx, N.Y. 5 Pictures from “Refuge” (2/96-4/96)
• Queens College, NYC, “Triage: The Crisis In Health,(1994)
• Museo De Vieques, Puerto Rico; Historical Buildings (9/91)
• Empire Gallery, NYC; “Collateral Damage: Photographs from the Impact Visuals Photo Agency. (6/91)
• Bread and Roses Gallery (DC 1199); NYC ” “Triage: The Crisis In Health”(1990)
• Dia Art Foundation Gallery, “If You Lived Here” 3 Exhibits on Homelessness curated by Martha Rosler, NYC(1989)
• S.U.N.Y. Galleries in two separate traveling exhibits (1980s)
• Long Island University, New Immigrants Show, (1987)
• Abyssinian Baptist Church; NYC. The South Bronx (1986)
• New Museum; NYC. The Nicaragua Media Project (1985)
• Casa De Las Americas; Habana, Cuba. New Works (4/85)
• New York State Museum; Albany South Bronx Photos (4/83)
• White Apple Gallery; Ithaca, Cuba Photos (3/79)
• Philadelphia Art Alliance; Philadelphia, PA. Cuba Photos, (1978)
• Visual Studies Workshop; Rochester, NY. Photographs of Cuba (10/78)
• Parsons School of Design; NYC. Cuba Photos (7/77)

GRANTS, AWARDS, FELLOWSHIPS & HONORS:
• 2004 Artist Fellowship, the Puffin Foundation
• 2002 Artist Fellowship, New York Foundation for the Arts
• 2001, 2002 Fellow, MacDowell Colony, Peterboro, NH
• 1998, 2002 Fellow, Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY
• 1997, 1999, 2003 Fellow, Blue Mt. Center, Blue Mountain Lake, NY
• 1994, 1995 Artist In Residence, Art Media Dept, Syracuse Univ.
• 1993-1997 On the Board of Advisors, NY Foundation for the Arts.
• 1993- 2002 Photography editor of CULTUREFRONT (Magazine of the New York Council For The Humanities)
• 1992, 1993, 1994, 1997 Artist In Residence, Lightwork, Syracuse, NY
• 1991 & 92 Imperatore Endowment Fellow (Empire State College Foundation) for Refugees in New York project
• 1987, 91, 93, 94, 96, 97, 98 & 99 Fellow, Virginia Center for the Arts
• 1990 Peer panelist, New York Foundation For the Arts
• 1987-88 Visiting Artist, Columbia University’s Center For American Culture Studies
• 1986 & 1991 New York Council For The Humanities Grant
• 1986, 1987 & 1991 Judge, Leica Medal of Excellence
• 1984, 1988 & 91 Artist’s Space Grant
• 1977, 1984 & 1990 Empire State College Foundation Grant
• 1983 – 1984 National Endowment For The Arts fellowship
• 1978 – 1979 S.U.N.Y. Research Foundation Grant

PHOTOGRAPHIC CREDITS (partial listing):
Boston Globe, New York Times, Newsweek, Fortune, Rolling Stone, Artforum, Ikon, Village Voice, El Diario-La Prensa, Scholastic Magazine, Newsday, Haiti Observateur, Stern, Paris-Match, Z Magazine, Social Policy, Rolling Stone, Food Monitor, New World Review, Food First, Nicaraguan Perspectives, Fiction International, Radical Teacher, Signs, Black Scholar, Tri-Continental, NACLA Report On The Americas, Latin American Perspectives, Public Welfare, Utne Reader, Machete, Ford Foundation, W. T. Grant Foundation, Foundation For Child Development and North Star Foundation. Annual Reports and other publications, including variousbooks on the history of art and in trade and text books.

PUBLICATIONS:
• 2/15, THE YEAR THE WORLD SAID NO TO WAR (H ELLO PRESS, 2003)
• JOINED AT THE HEART: THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE AMERICAN FAMILY BY AL AND TIPPER GORE (Henry Holt, 2002)
• HERE IS NEW YORK: PHOTOGRAPHS FROM 9/11 (Scala, 2002)
• A COMMUNITY OF MANY WORLDS: ARAB AMERICAN LIFE IN NYC (Syracuse U. Press, 2002)
• IN THE SOUTH BRONX OF AMERICA (9/01, Curbstone Books).
• SILVERWOLF HOMELESS PROJECT (1995) An audio CD of folk and contemporary music. My photographs are part of the text. The profits go to build housing for people without homes.
• BEYOND HOMELESSNESS (1992, University of Iowa Press. My photographs with interviews edited by Ben Giammo Jeffrey Greenberg.)
• VILLA SIN MIEDO, PRESENTE! (Jan, 1991, Claves Latinoamericano, Mexico) My photographs with a text by John Brentlinger. About a utopian community in Puerto Rico.
• My critical articles have appeared in Art And Artists, Nueva Luz, SPOT, Afterimage, and various small art newsletters and magazines.

COLLECTIONS:
• Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA
• Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY
• New York Public Library,
• New York Historical Society
• Museum of the City of New York
• Munson Williams Proctor Institute
• Roberson Museum, Binghamton, NY
• Museums at Stoney Brook, Long Island, NY
• Casa de las Americas, Havana, Cuba
• Museo de Arte Moderna, Caracas, Venezuela
• Museo de Vieques, Puerto Rico
• Light Work, Syracuse, NY

FILM AND VIDEO:
• “Havana Nagilah: The Jews of Cuba” uses many of my photographs of Cuba (1995)
• “Conversations With Gorbachev” and “The Battle For The Kremlin” use my photographs of Gorbachev & of Russia 1995
• “The Promised Land,” Emmy award winning documentary produced by Gabriel Garcia: a program using an interview with me and my pictures based on my work in the South Bronx and Puerto Rico.
• “Made In The Bronx” by Susan Fanshel uses my pictures in the film

PRESENTATIONS AND LECTURES (partial listing):
• Center for Documentary Studies, Duke University
• Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, Pennsylvania.
• South Street Seaport Museum, NYC
• Gotham Institute, CUNY Graduate Center
• American Photography Institute, NYU, N.Y.
• New York State Museum, Albany, N.Y.
• Johnson Art Museum, Ithaca, N.Y.
• Bronx Museum of the Arts
• Museum of the City of New York (3 lectures and gallery talks)
• College Art Association (2 lectures)
• Society For Photographic Education (4 lectures)
• Mason Gross School Of Art
• Nova Scotia School of Art & Design
• University of Massachusetts
• University of Connecticut
• Universidad de Costa Rica
• S.U.N.Y. at Fredonia
• Syracuse University
• Munson Williams-Proctor Institute
• New Museum
• Center For American Culture Studies, Columbia University.
• Multinational Institute of American Studies, N.Y.U.
• Center For Caribbean and Latin American Studies, N.Y.U.
• Third Biennial In Latin American Photography, Havana.
• Encuentro Con Fotografia, Caracas, Venezuela
• Intercambio, Puerto Rico

REFERENCES:
• Maurice Berger, Critic and Curator
• Charles Biasiny-Rivera, Director, En Foco
• Vicki Goldberg, Author, Curator and Critic
• Max Kozloff, Photographer and Critic
• Linda Nochlin, Art Historian and Critic, Prof of Art, NYU
• Craig Pleasants, Associate Director, Virginia Center For Creative Arts
• Jan Ramirez, Vice President and Director of the Luce Center, New York Historical Society
• Michael Rinehart, Getty Museum, Editor of Bibliography of History of Art
• Martha Rosler, Dept. of Art, Rutgers University
• Charles Traub, Photographer, Director, MFA program, School of Visual Arts, NYC
• Carrie Mae Weems, Artist