These examples of Carl Roters’ paintings span the greater part of the 20th century from 1930 through the mid 1980s. Prior to the 1950s, his work dealt with themes of New York City and the New England seacoast. The focus of his later work shifted to Western themes associated with the 19th century American fur trade in the Rocky Mountains. The gallery showcases Roters’ many styles.
Roters’ explained his fascination with fur trappers and Indians:
“The West is as acceptable a subject as any other if you just let go of the narrative… I’m interested in doing an aesthetic painting, and I prefer that to being nailed down to historical fact. I don’t work in a highly realistic fashion… The rhythms, the shapes and the use of space and the composition are what interest me more than anything else… I want to churn up space, relationships, color and line. The subject inspires imagination – two incongruous beings, the trapper and the Indian, set against the natural phenomenon of the horse which says GO, out there, to the West, where life is better somehow.”
