Stan Rosenthal

(1933-2012)

Stan Rosenthal was a British painter, printmaker, and lecturer born in London whose work was strongly influenced by the British Neo-Romantic tradition. He studied at Southend and Leicester Schools of Art, although he later joked that he had been “thrown out of various colleges for being naughty.” As a young artist he famously held a pavement exhibition outside the Tate, where the then director Sir John Rothenstein bought a work for five shillings and sent him a cup of tea on a silver tray. Rosenthal worked across oil, watercolour, acrylic, mixed media, and oil pastel, developing a vivid and expressive style inspired particularly by the landscapes and coastline of Wales. He lived and worked in several Welsh locations including Cardiff, Narberth, Solva, Cowbridge, and St Davids, where he established a studio gallery near the Graham Sutherland Gallery and later worked as a visiting lecturer and artist-in-residence. Pembrokeshire became the defining subject of his work, its dramatic coastline and changing weather reflected in paintings and prints characterised by energetic colour and atmosphere. Rosenthal exhibited widely in London and Wales, including at the Ben Uri Gallery and Leicester Galleries. His work entered collections including the Royal Collection, the National Assembly for Wales, the European Parliament, and Pembrokeshire County Hall.