Rachel Rosenthal
US artist – Interdisciplinary, Performance Art, Feminism, Activism
Rachel Rosenthal was one of the key figures in the development of theater, performance and feminist art in Los Angeles. Her practice incorporated painting, collage, sculpture and artist’s books, in addition to her best-known full-length performance art pieces which combined theater, dance, costumes and live music. Rosenthal was a leading figure in the L.A. Women’s Art Movement and in 1973 co-founded the Womanspace Gallery, a cooperatively run gallery devoted to work by female artists. By 1989, she had written, created, directed and acted in more than 30 full-length performances. In 1990, Rosenthal was awarded a J. Paul Getty Fellowship and the College Art Association award for Distinguished Body of Work, and in 1994 she received a Women’s Caucus for Art Honor Award. In 2000, she was named Cultural Treasure of Los Angeles and received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Performing Arts. In 2020, the Getty Research Institute’s Special Collection acquired the Rachel Rosenthal Papers, ca. 1920s – 2015, which extensively cover every phase of Rosenthal’s career.
