Pine Manor College

Nationally renowned photographer, Karin Rosenthal, took her audience on a journey of the evolution of her creative process at her talk and slide presentation in the President’s Dining Room on April 2, 2008. This lecture, part of the Nicholson lecture series and sponsored by the Hess Gallery and the Visual Arts program, drew a large audience anxious to hear how Rosenthal has developed her work based on her inspiration: the human body and nature. Rosenthal answered questions from the audience about “staying true to her personal vision”, and also about technical considerations in the photographic process.

Karin Rosenthal has photographed nudes in the landscape since 1975, finding resonances between body and nature first in traditional black-and-white images, and now in digital color photography. The lecture was given in conjunction with Rosenthal’s exhibit in the Hess Gallery, which draws from a variety of series to convey the evolution and range of her ideas and explorations. Primarily using light and water reflection, Rosenthal has created abstractions that challenge us to see beyond the predictable.

A free-lance photographer since 1973, Rosenthal’s commercial work has included portrait, public relations, dance, and art reproduction photography. Since 1990, she has made her living primarily from the sale of her fine art prints.  She also teaches workshops in her studio and on location in Maine and Cape Cod.

Rosenthal’s photographs are in several permanent collections, including the Boston MFA, Brooklyn Museum, Boston Public Library, International Center of Photography, Polaroid, and the Fogg, Rose, and Santa Barbara Art Museums. She graduated from Wellesley College with a major in Biology and minor in Art History and also attended Rochester Institute of Technology and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School.

Portfolios of her work have been featured in the Swiss Nikon News, the leading German photo magazine, Fotomagazin, and the major U.S. design publication, Print Magazine, among others. Her nudes are represented in several books including Eros, Male Nudes by Women, The Hidden Image, the ICP Encyclopedia of Photography, and several European books of nude photography.  A book of 40 B&W Nudes, entitled "Karin Rosenthal: Twenty Years of Photographs", was published in conjunction with her solo exhibition at the Danforth Museum of Art in 2000.  Rosenthal was the recipient of the 2006 Ultimate Eye Foundation Grant for Figurative Photography.

For more information on Karin Rosenthal's exhibition, visit the Hess Gallery Page

For more information on Karin Rosenthal's work, visit www.krosenthal.com