Who Was Harry Rosin?

Foreword: By Victoria Bieber

aving read the journals of Gauguin’s time in Tahiti, my father was drawn to the island to experience for himself the tropical paradise which had lured Gauguin to its shores nearly forty years earlier. When he arrived it was far more beautiful and captivating than he could have imagined. The environment was intoxicating and the people friendly and innocent in their simple approach to life.  The natives, unaccustomed to the sculptor’s craft, were at first timid. However, in the brief years which my father spent in Tahiti, he earned the trust of the island’s inhabitants and sculpted some of his most cherished works. The natural beauty of the natives stirred within him a creative frenzy of sculpting heads, busts, torsos, and full figures. His realistic style captured the Polynesians in such a way that, as he intermittently returned to the states to exhibit his newest work, he created quite a stir in the art world. His busts and heads, in addition to capturing the likeness of the subject, convey the character of the individual being sculpted.  As Gauguin had immortalized the mystique and allure of the island in his paintings, Harry Rosin captured and preserved the character and form of the Tahitian people.  His sculptures, prolific and full of life, preserve moments from a simpler time. His work forever changed the Tahitian-American art scene, and those brief years he was so fortunate to spend on the island, left an equally indelible mark on his life and career.