Local resident Judi Rotenberg gets exhibit at Cape Ann Museum

The Cape Ann Museum will host an exhibit of the vibrant, large scale works of Judi Rotenberg. Life-long Rockport summer resident and highly-respected gallery owner, Rotenberg has spent 40 years creating vivid, colorful floral still life paintings that capture the fragility and strength of life. Her works will be on view from April 30 to July 3.

“Judi’s work could not come at a more important time as spring returns to Cape Ann and re-awakens the region with color and hope,” Oliver Barker, Director of the Cape Ann Museum, said. “Her paintings are electric and so inspiring, and we are delighted to exhibit her joyful, beautifully-crafted works.”

Daughter of the late American Impressionist painter and longtime Cape Ann resident, Harold Rotenberg, Judi Rotenberg immersed herself in art since childhood. She earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Boston University where she studied with Reed Kay and David Aaronson. Privately, she studied with Francois Gall in Paris and Henry Schwartz in Boston. On Cape Ann, Rotenberg worked with Albert Alcalay, Barbara Swan, and George Demetrios. Classically trained and accomplished at portraiture, landscapes, and still lifes, she had the honor or being selected as a copyist at the Louvre Museum in Paris in 2012-13.

Working primarily in acrylic, Rotenberg’s recent paintings are unabashedly beautiful, alive with color and motion.  Each composition is vibrant and fresh and represents a new challenge for her. Her canvases are rich in detail, from the foreground and the table on which a vase and bouquet sit, through the center of the canvas with its explosion of blossoms, to the top of the composition where she often includes the view across her studio or out over Rockport Harbor.     

The tradition of women artists working on Cape Ann is a strong one and through her work Rotenberg has earned a place among the most accomplished of them.  Although long overshadowed by their male counterparts, women have consistently made important contributions in the field and continue to today. Many women painters have focused on still lifes, perhaps most notably Nell Blaine, but none have endowed their work with the color and power that Rotenberg has.

In connection with this special exhibition, the Cape Ann Museum is pleased to be presenting an encore of its 2019 program, Cape Ann Blossoms, May 14 and 15. Gallery talks are also planned and information on them can be found at www.capeannmuseum.org.

About the Museum

The Cape Ann Museum, founded in 1875, exists to preserve and celebrate the history and culture of the area and to keep it relevant to today’s audiences. Spanning 44,000 square feet, the Museum is one of the major cultural institutions on Boston’s North Shore welcoming more than 25,000 local, national, and international visitors each year to its exhibitions and programs.

In addition to fine art, the Museum’s collections include decorative art, textiles, artifacts from the maritime and granite industries, three historic homes, a Library & Archives and a sculpture park in the heart of downtown Gloucester.

In Summer 2021, the Museum opened the 12,000 square foot Janet & William Ellery James Center at the Cape Ann Museum Green. The campus also includes three historic buildings – the White-Ellery House (1710), the recently acquired Babson-Alling House (c.1740), and an adjacent Barn (c. 1740), all located on the site at the intersection of Washington and Poplar Streets in Gloucester. CAM Green will re-open in the spring.

The Cape Ann Museum is located at 27 Pleasant Street in Gloucester and is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday, 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Admission is $12.00 adults, $10.00 Cape Ann residents, seniors, and students. Youth (under 18) and Museum members are free. Cape Ann residents can visit for free on the second Saturday of each month. For more information please call (978)283-0455 x110 or visit www.capeannmuseum.org.