Critical Review by Frank Celubski
Frank Cebulski, Art critic and poet, Albany, California, USA
William Rose at the Campbell-Thiebaud Gallery
The paintings of William Rose, in his first one-man show, reveal an artist of exquisite sensibilities, boldly alert to his predecessors, and thoroughly capable of creating moods and emotions in his small but powerful representations. On view are some forty small-scale oil paintings on wood panels, as well as several watercolor sketches, including intimate and nostalgic Cézannesque landscapes, like Landscape in the Berkeley Hills, and Hiller Highlands (After the Fire); imaginative, whimsically chapeaued Balthus-like figures alone or in groups, at play or engaged in other activities, like The Young Lovers (The Game of Footsie) and Pastoral, a most delightfully understated Dejeuner sur L’Herbe; and intimately vibrant still lifes, like The Shell and The Red Chair. A strong Debut.
Frank Cebulski
Frank Cebulski reviewed William Rose’s first commercial exhibition at the Campbell-Thiebaud Gallery, north beach, San Francisco, for the California magazine Artweek. He also purchased a small oil painting on board that the artist painted while on holiday in the Dordogne, France. Both Paul Thiebaud and Charles Campbell purchased work (View of Wingfield Garden & Mexican Boys Playing) from the exhibition. The general consensus was that these paintings were the work of a ‘painter’s painter’.