- Based
- Kensington, Maryland
- Craft
- Welded metal and fused glass
Gary Rosenthal (1953–2023) made some of the most recognizable Judaica in America: menorahs, mezuzahs, seder plates and wedding keepsakes in copper, brass and steel lit up with brilliant fused glass.
He found metal almost by accident. Taking a year off from college to work for his father, a stove repairman, he was torching the heavy grates of a cast-iron stove when something clicked. He was sculpting in welded metals by the early 1970s and worked for almost 50 years from his studio in Kensington, Maryland, with a team of craftspeople that included autistic workers and former Soviet refuseniks. His "shards" wedding mezuzah, which holds pieces of the glass broken at the ceremony, became a classic.
Work from the collection was presented to presidents from Carter to Clinton to Obama and sold in museum shops including the Smithsonian's Renwick Gallery, the Corning Museum of Glass and The Jewish Museum.
Rosenthal died of pancreatic cancer in 2023. His son Reuben and longtime director Hamilton Whitney carried the Gary Rosenthal Collection forward, adding wood pieces, until it closed in 2025, so the pieces here are among the last.
Good to know
- Presented to presidentswork from the collection given to Presidents Carter, Clinton and Obama
- Museum shopsSmithsonian's Renwick Gallery, Corning Museum of Glass, The Jewish Museum, Skirball
