University of Georgia art professor Art Rosenbaum was a prolific artist, author, folk musician, and passionate collector so when he died in 2022 at age 83, his son Neil was faced with the disposition of scores of canvases and drawings, and dozens of quilts, banjos, and models of boats.
“He wasn’t organized, nor is my mother,” says Rosenbaum, an only child and the cultural trustee of the art estate. Much of the art is oversize and stacked in the large studio next to their house.
“Art is everywhere,” Rosenbaum observes. Tables and cabinets have stacks of unframed drawings, some in charcoal or pastels that will smear if not sprayed with a protective coating. The studio is dusty and easily accessed by critters.
Rosenbaum and his wife moved from Missouri to Athens after his father died to handle estate duties. He has purchased specialized software to catalog the art and set up cameras and lighting to photograph it. Much of the work isn’t titled. Some pieces are signed; some are not. Some are dated; others are not.
“The art is priceless and it’s difficult to sell,” he says. He’s contacted some museums about sale or donation but has discovered that their storage is often at capacity.
Most of the paintings have been photographed and catalogued but the works on paper are “trickier,” said Rosenbaum, who estimates he has catalogued about 50 percent of the collection.
“My role as cultural trustee is to work to place the art where the public will have the best opportunity to see it,” he explained. “That’s what my father wanted. I’m tapping into the collective wisdom of the community for creative ways to place his art, so I encourage folks to reach out with any ideas. It’s my job to preserve Art’s legacy.
“I also need to sell some of the art to keep the trust going,” he added. Some of Art’s banjos are for sale, and the 100 quilts are taking up expensive storage space, so Rosenbaum says he’s looking for good homes for them. The banjos and quilts appear in many of his paintings.
The trust will be responsible for tax-related matters on future sales, ensuring proper storage, insurance and appraisals, as well as other business types of decisions.
Rosenbaum, a professional videographer, is embarking on a feature-length documentary about his father.
“It will incorporate archival footage and interviews as well as new material,” he explained. “Anyone with a good Art Rosenbaum story can contact me – I would love to interview them for the film.”
Rosenbaum can be reached at rosenbaumarttrust@gmail.com. The official website is artrosenbaum.org.
Art and Margo Rosenbaum were artistic collaborators from the time they married in 1966. Both were visual artists and musicians. His medium was paint and hers is photography.
They came to Athens in 1976 when he was hired to teach studio art at the UGA Lamar Dodd School of Art. Over the ensuing decades of teaching, he also produced paintings that are represented in important public collections such as the Smithsonian National Museum of American Art and the Georgia Museum of Art.
In addition, he created several outstanding murals, including a well-known one at the UGA Special Collections Libraries. Titled “Doors,” the 30-foot-wide painting includes four dozen figures from the past century, showcasing the state’s political leadership.
Having spent many years seeking out and recording traditional folk music all over Georgia, Rosenbaum, a proficient musician himself, produced “Art of Field Recording Vol. I: Fifty Years of American Traditional Music,” a four-disc collection that won a 2008 Grammy award for Best Documentary Recording.
He also authored several books on American traditional music that included photographs by Margo. A retrospective of his paintings and drawings, “Weaving His Art on Golden Looms,” was held at the Georgia Museum of Art in 2006.
Betsy Bean is the founder and publisher of Boom Athens Magazine.
