Michael Rothenstein
Artists
(1908 - 1993)
Michael Rothenstein moved to Great Bardfield in 1941 intially staying with his friend the artist John Aldridge. He would become an important figure in the Neo-Romaticism of the post war period which built on the work of Eric Ravilious, Paul Nash and Graham Sutherland just as Great Bardfield, a magnet for painters and artists, became one of the most creative spots in the country.
These so called 'Neo-Romantics' leant a distinctly British vision to an age dominated by American Abstract Expressionism. Rothenstein became a nominal linchpin within the movement and a visionary printmaker whose later work speaks to pop art. However, the midcentury output of this group, made when Britain was reeling from war, remains the locus of one of the most interesting moments in the development of Modern British painting.