Amalie Rothschild’s Modernist Eye
On View at Goya Contemporary Gallery: November 23, 2025 – January 23, 2026
Opening Reception: Sunday, November 23, 3:00 – 6:00 PM
Curator: Amy Raehse
Baltimore, MD – October 14, 2025 – Goya Contemporary Gallery is proud to announce Amalie Rothschild’s Modernist Eye, the first major solo exhibition of the artist’s work since the gallery was named exclusive representative of the Rothschild Estate in 2024. On view from November 23, 2025, through January 23, 2026, the exhibition opens with a public reception on Sunday, November 23, from 3:00 to 6:00 PM.
This focused survey celebrates the prolific vision and enduring legacy of Amalie Rothschild (1916–2001), the pioneering Baltimore-based artist whose innovative work in painting, sculpture, and works on paper helped define postwar American modernism in the Mid-Atlantic and beyond. A selection of works curated from six decades, Amalie Rothschild’s Modernist Eye, highlights Rothschild’s ability to bridge abstraction and figuration, formal geometry and intuitive gesture—with a visual language as disciplined and rigorous as it is expressive.
From early figurative explorations to her iconic Plexiglas sculptures and abstract constructions that define her mature practice, Rothschild consistently pushed the boundaries of material, form, and perception. Her artistic vocabulary reflects a deep formal engagement with 20th-century modernist ideals—filtered through personal narrative, humor, and the perspective of a woman working outside dominant coastal art capitals of her day.
“Rothschild’s work is long overdue for broader recognition,” says Amy Raehse, the exhibition’s curator. “Her visionary approach to structure, color, and material speaks directly to today’s conversations about the evolution of abstraction, the role of women in modernism, and rich artistic histories rooted in Baltimore.”
“Amalie Rothschild was a pioneering spirit whose influence extended well beyond Baltimore, too” says Raehse. “This exhibition is an opportunity to reintroduce her unique practice to contemporary audiences and to position her where she belongs—within the broader canon of American modernism.”
While widely exhibited during her lifetime, Rothschild’s work has been underrecognized in recent decades. This exhibition follows Rothschild’s recent inclusion in Modernisms, a major group show at the Jewish Museum of Maryland, curated by J. Susan Isaacs, and her debut at the 2025 Armory Show in New York. These high-profile appearances mark a growing national reevaluation of Rothschild’s legacy—one Goya Contemporary is helping to lead through curated exhibitions, placements in prominent collections, and the development of new scholarship since taking on the estate.
Rothschild’s art is held in major public collections, including the Baltimore Museum of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Jewish Museum of Maryland, Honolulu Academy of Arts, the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Virginia. She was also a founding member of institutions supporting contemporary art in the Mid-Atlantic, such as Maryland Art Place. She founded the Baltimore Outdoor Art Festival in Druid Hill Park which ran from 1954 to 1986, and co-founded Gallery One, the first artists’ cooperative gallery in Baltimore in the 1950s-60s. Rothschild left a legacy of experimentation that continues to resonate, as well as support for the artists’ community of her time.
Born into a German-Jewish family in Baltimore, Rothschild studied fashion illustration at the Maryland Institute College of Art during the Great Depression. After an early career in commercial illustration, she transitioned to fine art following her marriage in 1936. Her home studio enabled her to balance her artistic work with family life, raising two daughters while maintaining a rigorous creative practice. Rothschild remained a vital and beloved figure in the Baltimore art scene until her death in 2001. “My mother was an artist of great depth, integrity, and discipline,” says the artist’s daughter, Amalie Randolph Rothschild. “This exhibition will include rarely seen pieces that demonstrate her relentless experimentation with systems of organization, modular construction, and spatial tension” she continued.
In her practice, she sought out and worked with scientists, architects, and mathematicians to learn the skills necessary to construct work in her own machine and wood-working shop. She even made her own canvasses and frames.
Embedded within many works, we see self-referential moments, references to her red hair color, her facial features—specifically her nose— and her femaleness. Her education was multifaceted, particularly for a woman in the time in which she lived. In the early 1930’s she attended what is now MICA. As was the case for the handful of female students enrolled, Rothschild was pushed towards Costume Design, which in this day would now be referred to as Fashion Design. After college, she won a scholarship to Parsons (then called the NY School of Fine and Applied Art) where she studied for five months in New York. She was invited to study in Paris, but her mother did not permit her to travel abroad solo. This was not an uncommon attitude of the day. Following her return, she spent 2 years working as a commercial illustrator for Baltimore newspapers. At 17, Rothschild met her future husband, Randolph Rothschild, who she married in 1936. They remained married for 65 years until her death. Through all those years, Rothschild worked as a practicing artist spending six hours a day five days a week in her studio with rare interruptions.
Although rooted in abstraction, Rothschild’s work often engaged deeply personal themes, reflecting the tensions between domestic responsibilities and artistic ambition, while also drawing on historical references. In the 1960s, she expanded into sculpture, producing over 325 works ranging from large-scale outdoor installations to intimate studies of form and spatial balance, often described as “drawings in space.” In the 1970s, influenced by feminist discourse, Rothschild developed her Vestments series—non-wearable, sculptural forms composed of translucent Plexiglas, aluminum, cord, and chain. These works, which evoke the structure of garments and the visual language of stained glass, further blurred the boundaries between sculpture and textile.
Rothschild was also a prolific draftsperson, producing hundreds of works on paper over the course of her life. As a warmup to her studio work every day she spent roughly 30 minutes doing what she called “automatic” drawing, inspired by Henri Matisse. Her career encompassed both artistic practice and pedagogy; she taught at Goucher College and other institutions while remaining an active advocate for the arts in Baltimore. At the time of her death, her oeuvre included approximately 1,400 works, with over 375 held in private and public collections.
Amalie Rothschild’s Modernist Eye is free and open to the public during regular gallery hours.
Exhibition Details:
Title: Amalie Rothschild’s Modernist Eye
Dates: November 23, 2025 – January 23, 2026
Reception: Sunday, November 23, 3:00–6:00 PM
Location: Goya Contemporary Gallery, 3000 Chestnut Ave, Baltimore, MD
Website: www.goyacontemporary.com
Goya Contemporary Gallery promotes the art and culture of our time by showcasing the work of mid-career and established artists whose practices have made significant contributions to contemporary visual discourse. Goya Contemporary is a proud member of the Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA) and the International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA).
For press inquiries please contact the curator, Amy Raehse /P: 410-366-2001 / amy@goyacontemporary.com
Goya Contemporary is free and open to the public
Hours of operation: Tue – Fri, 10am – 6pm / Saturday, noon-4pm & by appointment