By all accounts, David Rohn was never ordinary. The Putney artist, who died in December at age 91, flew planes, sailed around the Greek Islands and frequently answered questions via Miss Tulip, a hand puppet he made. When living in France in 1970, he kept escargots in his studio; they sometimes escaped and ate his sketches. Yet his paintings settled from the abstraction of his youth into easy, calmly composed watercolor still lifes that can only be the product of decades of steady practice. Vibrant, clean colors build his scenes from light to dark. The paint’s liquid nature is always apparent, describing worlds that are complete but never quite contained. The process of looking was of great importance to Rohn: “Supervising a puddle takes all of your attention,” the gallery quotes him as saying. “Let’s make some puddles and see where that leads.”
This article appears in April 8 • 2026.
Got something to say?
Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!
