First, the writer does not seem to have known this man or to know much about him. Mr. Riesenberg helped raised me and lived with me in our family home until his death.
Second, since Mr. Riesenberg lived in Yonkers, NY from 1905 till his passing, and summered in Rockport MA from 1937 until his passing, it is inaccurate to say he was 'from Chicago,' unless only his birthplace is meant. He was a painter after the Hudson River school, and enjoyed painting the places where he lived, namely Yonkers, NY, Rockport MA, Winchester MA and Cambridge MA. He maintained a studio in NYC for many years, commuting by train from Yonkers. He was consummate in his art: when leaf fires were still legal in Massachusetts he would throw on at least 5 or 8 paintings from the year's work that were not up to his standards!
Third, he would have been mortified to be clumsily called 'a landscape painter,' since his real interest as a fine artist (separate from his professional work as illustrator) was in painting people in action, people working, and most especially, his paintings tell a story (to be expected of a trained illustrator), frequently with a sly (but not admitted directly) inclusion of his family members and even himself. He painted portraits, story scenes from 'the old West,' vignettes of everyday life as he saw it, and many scenes of town life in Rockport MA. In Yonkers he sold a number of paintings to local banks, proudly displayed in their lobbies.
Fourth, he was throughout his life an artist in his view of things; as a young man he wrote stories, in emulation and with the support of his older brother Felix, with whom he was very close. A famous portrait of Felix was painted (circa 1947?) and hung in the foyer of the Merchant Maritime Academy, of which Felix was a founding father.
Fifth: He personally disavowed the middle name, and hardly used for most of his signing lifetime. I asked him many times if he had a middle name, and he repeatedly told me he did not (ever use it).
Sixth, he distinguished a place for himself in Rockport at the Rockport Art Association, winning prizes in competitions there as well.
Seventh, PLEASE CORRECT AT LEAST THE TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
Also, editorially, the opening sentence of the section entitled WORKS is a redundancy, maybe delete 'his contributions during World War I are most noted and...' or rewrite the whole paragraph.
In the following paragraph mention should be made also of his posters featuring Uncle Sam.
Paragraph3: please correct verb: Over the Top For You...was selected TO BE DISPLAYED in the Smithsonian... and also Democracy's Vanquard, delete the 'n'.
Last para. Riesenberg was also created artwork(?). Probably Harper's and The Saturday Evening Post should be in italics. Suggestion for "Others depicted...." Another illustrates marines walking to raise the flag with a large warship as the background.
In sum, I do not think this article does much justice to the legacy of this creative artist who was far more than a creator of WWI loan posters. Most of his life (the final 45 years) was spent at fine arts, living in retirement from professional illustrating and focusing on his true love, fine arts. He painted daily until he was 85, when he made his final painting, his initials SR, with the lower portion of the S forming the upper portion of the R, joined bottom S to top R. This emblem was also tattooed on his wrist (I do not remember which one)!
The journals and scrapbooks of Sidney and Felix (from around 1910) show clearly how engaged they both were with art, literary art, and the burgeoning publishing scene of their youth. Their mother also was creative; she wrote a well-known cookbook, Easy Baking [itals.], and their sister was very involved in the literary scene of NYC and Paris in the latter part of the 1920s. This was a very creative family! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Wcountbasie (talk • contribs) 21:26, 2 March 2015 (UTC)Reply
- @Wcountbasie: Thank you for your comments. Do you have any reliable citations to articles to the points you cite above? Some of the grammarical issues have been since fixed. TeriEmbrey (talk) 15:29, 6 March 2015 (UTC)Reply
