Rosequist Gallery
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The Rosequist Gallery, also known as the Rosequist Galleries, was a significant American art gallery located in Tucson, Arizona[1] that represented and sold Western, contemporary and international art. Originally established as a custom frame shop by Jane and Ivan Rosequist in 1946, the gallery grew over the next twenty years into one of the most important in Arizona and the American West. The Rosequits cultivated and supported emerging artist, represented major American painters and were a touchstone for collectors and institutions. The Rosequists sold the gallery 1968 but it continued under the same name through 2006.
Ivan Rosequist was born of Swedish descent in Pennsylvania in 1906. He grew up Jamestown, New York,[2] attended Columbia University, and served two years in the U.S. Army. He chased business and worked for Sherman-Williams Paint Co. In the middle of the depression he pursued acting in Hollywood and New York. During this period he met and married Jane Alling before returning to Cleveland in 1934 where he was active in the Federal Theatre Project and the Cleveland Play House.[3] During WWII the couple worked in a factory, Jane working as a machine operator before a desk job and then clerical work.
Jane's sister Priscilla was married to noted artist Gerry Peirce and encouraged the couple to move to Tucson, Arizona. They arrived in 1945 and seeing that Tucson needed a frame shop established a business.
The Rosequists opened a picture framing studio “Rosequist Frame Shop” at 18 South Convent Street[4] in September 1946. Although in later newspaper sources, the open date was noted as 1945.[5] Jane Rosequist reminiscing on the opening said, “There were dirt floors and an outside privy then” The small firm created and manufactured original molding and frames.[6]
By Summer 1951 the frame shop began selling fine prints,[7] created by artists including, Utrillo, Cézanne, and Picasso.[8] The store was renamed “Ivan Rosequist Fine Prints and Skilled Framing.” In November the store presented its first print exhibition “Bird Show” featuring Audubon Prints and work by Martinet, Fawcett, and Catesby.[9] The store continued to grow from a “tiny shop” into a business that included a print room and gallery for originals, a lumber mill for original Rosequist frame molding, and a print shop.
In February 1953 the gallery presented “Old and New Prints,” which included a Maynard Dixon oil painting, work by Winslow Homer, and prints by Moreau.[10]