AN ARTIST'S JOURNAL
Edited and prepared for the Internet by Ronald Davis
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with further selections from
Stanley Roseman - An Artist's Journal
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Notice of Copyright Infringement
    "Rosebery's is publishing on its website without my authorization an image of my drawing. I hold the copyright. The image from Rosebery's website is presented above, along with my notice indicating 'Copyright Infringement.'
    "Rosebery's replaced my title of my portrait drawing of the Benedictine monk Brother Adolf with a title of its own: "Study of a Monk." Rosebery's is publishing incorrect information regarding the medium of my drawing. The portrait is not in 'charcoal and pastel.'
    "Rosebery's is publishing the image of my drawing with my signature eliminated from the lower right side of the drawing.
    "The website MutualArt.com and the blogspot of Old Chelsea Gallery, Staunton, Virginia, have published since June 2013 without my authorization that same image of my drawing. MutualArt.com and Old Chelsea Gallery have also published incorrect information regarding the title and the medium of this drawing. MutualArt.com and Old Chelsea Gallery have also published on their websites the image of my drawing with the elimination of my signature.
"Use of a copyright protected work without its owner's permission may be a civil infringement and/or a criminal offence depending on the circumstances."
- Intellectual Property Office
  United Kingdom
Value of Roseman's Drawings on the Monastic Life
Rosebery's has Mistitled the Drawing by Stanley Roseman
     Roseman confronts the West Norwood auction house for mistitling his drawing.
    "The word 'Study' infers that a work is just that - a study or draft as preliminary to a further composition realized, for example, in the medium of painting or engraving. My drawings on the monastic life are NOT studies. My drawings on the monastic life are autonomous works of art.
    "Peter Schatborn, Keeper of the Rijksprentenkabinet, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, states in reference to drawings as autonomous works: 'A monogram or signature gives the drawing a guarantee of authenticity, making it more a work of art in its own right, on a par with paintings and etchings.'[1]
    "Did Rosebery's publish an image of my drawing with my signature eliminated so as to refer to the portrait as a 'Study' - and in so doing, attempt to lessen the value of my work on the monastic life.
    "In the fine art book Stanley Roseman and the Dance - Drawings from the Paris Opéra, published in Paris, 1996, I write: 'As I embarked on my career, drawings became an increasingly important part of my work, not as studies or preparatory sketches for paintings, engravings, or sculptures, but as works complete unto themselves.'[2]
    "The websites stanleyroseman-monasticlife.com and stanleyrosemandance.com state in texts written by my colleague Ronald Davis: 'Roseman's drawings, depicting a diversity of subjects in a variety of drawing materials, are autonomous works, complementary to his paintings, sculptures, and engravings.'
Rosebery's auction house undervalues the work of Stanley Roseman
     At the Trappist Abbey of Mount St Bernard, in Leicestershire, in the spring and summer of 1978, Roseman continued his work, which includes a superb oil on canvas portrait of the dark-haired and bearded carpenter Ian in whose shop the artist was kindly provided with wood, tools, and a space to build stretchers for his canvases. Father Ian, Portrait of a Trappist Monk in Meditation was acquired in 1987 for the outstanding collection of the Musée Ingres, Montauban, which houses an important bequest by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867) to his hometown. Pierre Barousse, Curator of the Musée Ingres, writes to Ronald Davis, who introduced his colleague's work to the Museum: "Father Ian is for me an absolutely captivating work of art.''
     The British Museum, London, acquired Roseman's portrait drawing Dom Sylvester Mooney, Abbot Emeritus, 1984, Douai Abbey, Berkshire. At the time Roseman drew the retired Benedictine abbot's portrait, Dom Sylvester was ninety-eight years old and the oldest living monk in the Western Church. The acquisition by the British Museum in 1996 included the artist's portrait drawing of Abbess Mary Imelda of the Trappist Abbey of Glencairn, Ireland, and a drawing of Paris Opéra star dancer Kader Belarbi from Roseman's extensive oeuvre of drawings on the dance at the Paris Opéra.
     Jean Rankine, Deputy Director of the British Museum, acknowledging the acquisition of Roseman's drawings on behalf of the Trustees, writes in her cordial letter to the artist: ''I am directed by the Trustees to convey to you this expression of their best thanks for these most welcome additions to their collections.''
     The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, which conserves a number of works by Roseman in the medium of painting, drawing, and drypoint engraving, acquired in 1994 the drawing Dom Bede, Portrait of a Benedictine Monk, 1980, St. Augustine's Abbey. In a cordial letter to Davis, who introduced his colleague's work to the Museum, Susan Lambert, Chief Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Paintings, praises the Roseman drawing as "an excellent example of modern portraiture. In terms of its subject, medium, and intrinsic quality, the drawing fits extremely well into the V&S's collecting policy and is a notable acquisition.''
     The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, conserves Roseman's drawings of monks from the Anglican Benedictine Abbey of Nashdom; the Benedictine Abbey of Tyniec, near Krakow; and the Chartreuse de la Valsainte, a Carthusian monastery in the Swiss Alps. The Encyclopaedia of Oxford, edited by the eminent Oxford historian Christopher Hibbert, notes that the Ashmolean Museum acquired the work of Stanley Roseman.[3]
     Roseman's drawings from English monasteries are also conserved in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen; Musée des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux; Prentenkabinet / Kunsthistorisch Instituut der Rijksuniversiteit, Leiden; and the Teyler Museum, Haarlem, which made a second acquisition of Roseman's work on the monastic life with two portrait drawings of a Carthusian monk from St. Hugh's Charterhouse, Parkminster, the only Carthusian monastery in the British Isles today.
    "Rosebery's auction house, The Old Chocolate Factory, West Norwood, London, grossly undervalued my work on the monastic life with a very low estimate of £100 - £150 for the portrait.
© Stanley Roseman and Ronald Davis, 2014 - All Rights Reserved
Visual imagery and website content may not be reproduced in any form whatsoever.
Correspondence from the Monasteries
     For the occasion of Dom Sylvester Mooney's 100th birthday on June 11, 1986, Roseman and Davis made a gift to Douai Abbey of a related portrait that Roseman drew of the Abbot Emeritus at Douai two years before. In a letter of appreciation Dom Geoffrey Scott, librarian and archivist, who was to be elected Abbot of Douai in 1998, writes on behalf of Dom Sylvester, the Abbot, and the Community: "We collected the drawing of Fr Sylvester yesterday afternoon and are delighted with it. I'd not seen the drawing before and was struck by its power. It is very hard to thank you adequately for such a noble gift which will be a treasured possession of the Community through succeeding generations."
     The Keeper of Western Art at the Ashmolean Museum, Dr. Kenneth Garlick, having made his first acquisition of Roseman's work for the collection, thoughtfully invited Roseman and Davis for a tour of the museum and luncheon at Balliol College, the Keeper's alma mater. In conversation about Roseman's work on the monastic life; sojourns in European monasteries; resulting friendships; and the correspondence with monks and nuns, who wrote with appreciation and enthusiasm for the artist's work, the Keeper of Western Art emphasized the importance of such extraordinary correspondence between an artist and his models.
     Throughout the website stanleyroseman-monasticlife.com are presented selections from the extensive correspondence from monks and nuns to the artist and his colleague. The correspondence from the monasteries over more than thirty years which includes many cards and letters from English monks, as well as cordial letters from curators and museum directors also writing with enthusiasm in the acquisition of Roseman's work for museums in England, has fostered the warm feelings that the American artist holds for England.
     As the editor of this website and a long-time colleague of Stanley Roseman and with my paternal English, Welsh, and Scottish ancestry, I find the disturbing matter with Rosebery's auction house particularly unacceptable. I quote Roseman on the sale of his drawing to Flavia Ormond and correspondence with Rosebery's.
    "My email of 3 July 2013 to Ian Cadzow at Rosebery's received no reply from him. I received a reply from Marcus Grey, Paintings and Drawings Department, in which he refers to the portrait drawing: 'Study of a Monk' and states that the medium is 'charcoal and pastel.' The medium is not charcoal and pastel. The auction house grossly undervalues my drawing with the published estimate of £100-£150.
    "Marcus Grey further writes in his email of 3 July 2013: 'Could you let me know where the inaccuracy is in the description? If you can you please send to mea [sic] copy of documentation regarding the copyright of this artwork and evidence that you are the originator (artist) of said work to this email address.'
    "Marcus Grey is asking me to send Rosebury's proof that I am the artist! Yet Marcus Grey opens his correspondence with 'Dear Mr Roseman.' Marcus Grey asks me to provide documentation regarding the copyright. I told Ian Cadzow by email: 'My sale of my drawing to the art dealer Flavia Ormond did not include reproduction rights.' My second email, 15 July 2013, to Ian Cadzow and Marcus Grey reiterated what I had written previously. However, I did not provide the correct title and medium of my drawing so that Rosebery's could revise and republish its auction records which grossly undervalue my work."
    "Rosebery's auction house having grossly undervalued my work obviously raises questions. Is it because I have gone my own way as an artist counter to the dominant art movements today that negate the human figure and Nature?
     The Bibliothèque Nationale de France, in a biographical essay on the artist states:
    "I began my work on the monastic life in a Benedictine monastery on the coast of Kent, very near the place where the Italian monk St. Augustine, who became the first Archbishop of Canterbury, disembarked in 597 with a mission from Pope Gregory the Great, himself a monk before his election to the papacy, to bring Christianity and monasticism under the Roman Church to the British Isles.
    " 'In the face of criticism, monks and nuns tend not to reply to their critics and detractors . . . .' Abbot Wilfrid affirms that 'the drawings make their own positive affirmation which is, I believe, comprehensible to every person of good will, whatever his nationality or creed.' The Anglican Abbot concludes that my work on the monastic life is 'a positive statement of values that need to be affirmed and safeguarded as fundamental to all that is best, noblest and most profound in the spirit of man.' "
    "From the sixth to the twelfth century, monasteries produced most of the books in the West. An early and celebrated literary work is A History of the English Church and People by the Venerable Bede (c.673-735), the Benedictine monk esteemed as Father of English History.
Roseman raises another question and speaks of Ecumenicism
''No one, I believe, in 1,500 years of Christian monachism has catalogued, defined
and described so clearly or so beautifully the business of the monastic life.
No writer, no sculptor, no painter, no architect has refined a distillation so pure,
so accurate, so breathtakingly clear as Roseman has done.''

- The Times, London
Stanley Roseman's monumental and critically acclaimed oeuvre on the Monastic Life
     Stanley Roseman embarked in 1978 on what the Los Angeles Times praises as "a sweeping artistic project.'' The artist was invited to live in Benedictine, Cistercian, Trappist, and Carthusian monasteries and to share in the day-to-day life in the cloister. Behind the monastery walls, Roseman painted portraits and made drawings of monks and nuns of the four monastic Orders of the Western Church and created a monumental and critically acclaimed oeuvre on the monastic life - a life centered on contemplation and prayer and the singing of the Psalms in observing the Biblical call to prayer "At midnight I rise to praise you, O Lord,'' and "Seven times a day I praise you'' stated by the Prophet in the Book of Psalms.
     Roseman's ecumenical work, brought to realization in the enlightenment of Vatican II, depicts monks and nuns of the Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran faiths. The work created in over sixty monasteries throughout England, Ireland, and Continental Europe has received praise in newspapers and journals and is represented in important museums and private collections world-wide. A selection of Roseman's paintings and drawings are presented on the website stanleyroseman-monasticlife.com. The quote below is from the laudatory review in The Times, London, published in 1980, the year commemorating the 1,500th anniversary of the birth of Benedict of Nursia, whose Rule called the Rule of Saint Benedict is the basis of monastic observance in the Western Church:
    "There is also for me, being of the Jewish faith, still another question concerning Rosebery's attempt to grossly undervalue and lessen the importance of my work on the monastic life. Perhaps those at Rosebery's do not know of the early monastic tradition in Judaism. The desert settlement of Qumran, near the Dead Sea, as recorded in the Dead Sea Scrolls, was a center of monastic life in Judaism from the second century BC to the first century AD. Contemporary with the Qumran community, which followed a cenobitic monastic life, were the Therapeutae, the Jewish eremites whose main settlement was near Alexandria. The Therapeutae, who lived in solitude in hermitages and maintained a strict regime of prayer and of reading and studying the Holy Scriptures, were the subjects of the first-century Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria's celebrated treatise The Contemplative Life."
    "Ronald and I were deeply appreciative to receive a letter written in the spirit of ecumenism from Abbot Enda Ducey, Mellifont Abbey. The Abbot concludes his letter: 'Give my love to Stanley. My contact with him has been precious to me as it showed how much we have in common before the Lord. You know, I keep you both in my Masses and prayers as I have your welfare and happiness very much at heart. Your friends here are well. God love you both. Every success.'
     Stanley Roseman's paintings and drawings on the monastic life earned him high esteem from Benedictine, Cistercian, Trappist, and Carthusian monks and nuns in addition to their admiration for the artist's knowledge of monastic history[5] and their appreciation of his own contemplative nature. Friendships developed, as eloquently expressed in letter from Abbot Enda Ducey of the Trappist Abbey of Mellifont. The artist recounts:
    "In March of 1979 Ronald and I were honored by an invitation for an audience with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican. The audience with Pope John Paul II was a memorable occasion for both Ronald and myself, Ronald having been raised in the Roman Catholic faith and I, in the Jewish faith. We presented the Pontiff with a drawing of Brother Florian, whom I had drawn at the Benedictine Abbey of Tyniec, near Krakow. Pope John Paul II, taking hold of my arm, said to me: 'Stanley, your beautiful paintings and drawings devoted to contemplation and prayer promote a spirit of friendship and understanding between Christians and Jews and all people of goodwill.' " (See the photograph on the following page.)
    'For Christians, as for all people of faith, reflection, meditation and prayer help us to renew ourselves in God's love, as we strive daily to become better people. The Christmas message shows us that this love is for everyone. There is no one beyond its reach.' "
An Unprecedented Work on the Monastic Life
     Jornal do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, states in its Sunday magazine feature story, 1980, on Roseman's work: ''The project is a splendid artistic collection, an historic record of a way of life never seen before on such a scale.''
     The respected art journal ARA arte religioso actual, Madrid, published in the fall of 1979 a laudatory reportage entitled ''Stanley Roseman y la Vida Monastica:''
- ARA arte religioso actual, Madrid
''The pictures - splendid and telling all at once - form the stimulating vanguard towards so original and deep a study of the monastic life.''
- Bibliothèque Nationale de France
'Stanley Roseman lived in monasteries of monks and nuns of the four contemplative orders
throughout Europe and created an extensive oeuvre of chalk drawings
profoundly expressive of the individual and the interior life.'
[4]
    "Each drawing is a gem of the first quality
and all of them together offer
a unique impression of monastic life.''

- Jornal do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro
Roseman drawing Trappist  monks in choir
Belgium,1981.
    "On Christmas Day 2013, Queen Elizabeth II delivered her annual Christmas message with heartfelt words on the importance of contemplation and prayer: 'We all need to get the balance right between action and reflection. With so many distractions, it is easy to forget to pause and take stock. Be it through contemplation, prayer, or even keeping a diary, many have found the practice of quiet personal reflection surprisingly rewarding, even discovering greater spiritual depth to their lives. . . .
    "Abbot Wilfrid Weston of the Anglican Benedictine Abbey of Nashdon writes in a deeply meaningful letter about my work on the monastic life: 'Your drawings are, I believe, of great significance for all who seek to know the meaning of man's life and what constitutes its highest values and deepest insights.
1. Peter Schatborn, Rembrandt: the Master& his Workshop: Drawings & Etchings (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991), p. 10.
2. Stanley Roseman, Stanley Roseman and the Dance - Drawings from the Paris Opéra (Paris: Ronald Davis, 1996), p. 9.
3. The Encyclopaedia of Oxford, ed. Christopher Hibbert (London: Macmillan, 1988), p. 40.
4. Stanley Roseman - Dessins sur la Danse à l'Opéra de Paris (text in French and English), (Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale de France, 1996), p. 11.
5. The Oxford scholar and Benedictine monk Dom Bernard Green read a draft of Roseman's manuscript and wrote in a cordial letter to the artist:
   "You portray the background and the aims of life in monasteries so well, showing such a deep understanding of the monastic life.''
Stanley Roseman drawing Trappist monks in Choir, St. Sixtus Abbey, Flanders. © Photo by Ronald Davis
    "I contacted by email Ian Cadzow, managing director of Rosebery's, on 3 July 2013; MutualArt.com, on 9 June 2013; and Elizabeth Hartman, gallery owner, and Kim Weller, managing director, of Old Chelsea Gallery, Staunton, Virginia, 10 July 2013, to notify them of copyright infringement in their publishing without my authorization a drawing by me. I informed them that they are publishing incorrect information regarding my drawing. I told them to remove the reproduction of my drawing from their websites. Even with follow-up emails to Rosebery's and MutualArt.com, as I noted in my journal, both companies are still publishing on their websites the image of my drawing, with my signature eliminated and incorrect information regarding the drawing.
    "My email to Old Chelsea Gallery, Staunton, Virginia, received a response from Elizabeth Hartman on 10 July 2013: 'I am asking the blog designer to take all images of the drawing off the blog. This will be done today.' The Gallery posted an image of my drawing on 16 June 2013. In 2022, I noted in my journal, "Old Chelsea Gallery is still publishing the unauthorized image of my drawing."
      The Roseman portrait of a Benedictine monk was auctioned by Rosebery's. The auction house has grossly undervalued Roseman's critically acclaimed work on the Monastic Life. The drawings earned Roseman the honor of being the first American artist to have a one-man exhibition at the Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna, world-renowned museum of master drawings. The Albertina conserves seven Roseman drawings on the Monastic Life. The Museum presented in 1983 the exhibition Stanley Roseman-Zeichnungen aus Klöstern (Drawings from the Monasteries). See below an excerpt from the full-length page, superlative review of the artist's work in The Times, London.
The Artist raises questions
     The website stanleyroseman-monasticlife.com features a page on the Roseman exhibition at the Albertina. The website page presents a selection of the artist's drawings from the exhibition and quotes words of praise for Roseman's work from Dr. Walter Koschatzky, Director of the Albertina.
     Roseman began his work on the monastic life in England in April of 1978, with an enthusiastic invitation to the artist and his colleague Ronald Davis from Abbot Gilbert Jones of St. Augustine's Abbey, a Benedictine monastery on the coast of Kent. The warm welcome by the Abbot and the Community and their encouragement to Roseman for his prospective work established a rapport between the artist and the monks, exemplified by the deeply felt portrait of Dom Henry, a senior member of the Community. Dom Henry, Portrait of a Benedictine Monk was acquired in 1986 by François Bergot, Chief Curator of the Museums of France, for the renowned collection of the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen, of which he was the Director. In a cordial letter to Roseman, the Chief Curator of the Museums of France writes: "As you undoubtedly already know, I have expressed to Monsieur Davis my admiration for this work of art of profound insight and spirituality.''
    "However, the history of the British Isles includes the Suppression of the Monasteries under Henry VIII, the Penal Laws passed in the 16th and 17th centuries, the Roman Catholic Relief Act (1778, 1791, and 1793), the Catholic Emancipation Act (1829), the Roman Catholic Charities Act (1832), and the Roman Catholic Relief Act (1926).
     Roseman further writes: "Concerning Rosebery's auction house having grossly undervalued my work on the monastic life raises the question of an aversion to monasticism itself. Although as I have written in a text to accompany my paintings and drawings, 'monastic life is interwoven with the history and culture of Europe.'
    "Rosebery's has given its own title 'Study of a monk' to my drawing. That is NOT the correct title. The title of my portrait of the Benedictine monk Brother Adolf is recorded on the documentation I provided Flavia Ormond of Flavia Ormond Fine Arts Limited, London, who purchased the drawing.
Roseman's impressive portrait of a Benedictine monk is reproduced without the artist's permission by the English auction house Rosebery's and others who are publishing false information regarding the title and the medium and have eliminated the artist's signature from the published image of his drawing.
     The English auction house Rosebery's is giving the title "Study of a Monk" for the portrait drawing of Brother Adolf (seen here). That is not the title of the portrait. Roseman's drawings are not studies: his drawings are autonomous works of art - signed, inscribed, and dated by the artist. Those engaged in the copyright infringement are also publishing false information regarding the drawing. Furthermore, Rosebery's is listing the same drawing auctioned and sold at the same low price on two different dates with different lot numbers: 11 August 2012, lot 750; and 19 January 2013, lot 482.
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    "Two companies responded ethically to my request. My email to arcadja.it on 9 June 2013 received a cordial response from the Arcadja Staff, who kept their word, and the next day the image of my drawing and the accompanying incorrect information were removed from their website. I also received a cordial reply from the administration of FindArtInfo.com on 4 May 2014, and the image of my drawing and incorrect information were removed from their website. I am very appreciative to both administrations."
by Rosebery's auction house and others
publishing on the Internet this drawing by Stanley Roseman 
    "I sold my portrait of Brother Adolf to Flavia Ormond, a London dealer of master drawings. In her letter of 17 October, 1997, she writes: 'Thank you so much for your fax of today. I will send the deposit off today or first thing on Monday morning. . . . Also thank you again for the special price of $5,000. I am very grateful.' " (See below Page 2 - Provenance with information on appraisals of Roseman's work by Dr. Walter Koschatzky, Director of the Albertina; and by a leading Swiss banking institution.)
AN ARTIST'S JOURNAL
An Audience with Pope John Paul II
Notice of Copyright Infringement
An Invitation to Draw at the Metropolitan Opera
On Portraiture
The image of the drawing, as seen on the Internet, is presented here along with a notice by the artist indicating "Copyright Infringement."
Copyright Infringement.
This drawing by Stanley Roseman
is reproduced and
disseminated on the Internet
without the artist's authorization.
     Dr. Walter Koschatzky, Director of the Albertina, appraised Roseman's drawings on the monastic life for $3,000 to $4,000. each. A leading Swiss banking institution stated an increase in the value of the drawings in a bank statement in 1990 regarding a Custody Account for the Safekeeping of Securities. Five Roseman drawings on the monastic life were deposited in the Custody Account at a value of CHF 9,000. each, (approximately $6,000. each). A related drawing to the portrait of Brother Adolf, seen above, was included in the Custody Account. The name of the bank will remain confidential for the present time.
1. Notice of Copyright Infringement
2. Concerning Rosebery's Auction House
3. Concerning Bamfords Auctioneers
       and LiveAuctioneers
4. Fifty Titles from Seven Centuries
       of Western Art
5. Advice to Artists
Links on bottom of the page.
    "Rosebery's in disregard of the copyright protection due the artist is publishing and making the image of my drawing available to third parties for their use or misuse on the Internet.
    "Why would Ian Cadzow and Marcus Grey at Rosebery's give an extremely low estimate for a drawing from my oeuvre on the monastic life that earned me a superlative review in The Times, London, and an exhibition Stanley Roseman-Zeichnungen aus Klöstern (Drawings from the Monasteries) at the Graphische Sammlung Albertina. The Museum conserves seven of my drawings on the monastic life. The exhibition in 1983 brought me the honor of being the first American artist to have a one-man exhibition at the Albertina, a world-renowned Museum of master drawings."
Page 1 - Notice of Copyright Infringement
Page 3 - Concerning Bamfords Auctioneers and LiveAuctioneers
                  
Mistitling Roseman's Painting from the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
Page 4 - Fifty Titles from Seven Centuries of Western Art
              
    Roseman's Commentary addressed to Bamfords Auctioneers and LiveAuctioneers
Page 2 - Concerning Rosebery's Auction House
                  
Provenance of the Portrait Drawing of Brother Adolf
                        Value of Roseman's Drawings on the Monastic Life