{"data":{"id":"1128","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":1128,"topgoose_id":948,"tms_id":1128,"display_name":"Theodore Roszak","sort_name":"Roszak Theodore","display_date":"1907–1981","begin_date":"1907","end_date":"1981","biography":"\u003cp\u003ePolish-born, Chicago-trained artist\nTheodore Roszak embraced the ideals and\naesthetic of the Machine Age. During a\nsojourn in Europe from 1929 to 1931, Roszak\nwas deeply influenced by the utopian\ncommitment to conjoin art and industry\npromulgated by the Bauhaus, the\nexperimental German art school. Returning\nto New York, he embarked on a fertile\ninvestigation of this idea in an array of media,\nincluding painting, drawing, sculpture,\nlithography, and photography. The sculptures\nthat resulted—and for which Roszak\nis best known—are streamlined geometric\nforms produced from industrial materials\nsuch as prefabricated metal and\nplastic. Despite their machine aesthetic,\nthese works remain tied to the natural\nworld, with sinuous or biomorphic elements\nthat evoke figurative forms.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe same is true of Roszak’s drawings\nfrom the 1930s, including \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/2619\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eMetaphysical\nStructure\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e, whose title and fantastical\nimagery recall the artist’s interest in the\nmetaphysical compositions of Giorgio\nde Chirico and the European Surrealists.\nIn this drawing Roszak imagines a contorted\npyramidal structure that combines slick\nindustrial elements, including smokestacks\nand taut cables, together with human\nforms such as a nose and skinlike surfaces.\nWith its synthesis of abstraction and\nfiguration, the human and the mechanical,\nthe sensual and the austere, \u003cem\u003eMetaphysical\nStructure\u003c/em\u003e reflects Roszak’s desire to\nground all of his art in what he termed “the\nunique quality of opposing forces.” At the\nsame time, this haunting and inventive\nfusion of man and machine suggests the\nparticular role of drawing, for Roszak,\nas a tool for “releasing any number of ideas\nthat could not be so readily recorded\nin any other media.”\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":false,"artport":false,"biennial":true,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500017526","wikidata_id":"Q258726","created_at":"2017-08-30T15:57:19.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-04-10T07:03:30.080-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/1128/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/1128/exhibitions"}}}}