Ross Rossin

From 1991 to 1996, Rossin visited and worked in Japan for five months each year. During this time he completed over 150 portraits and traveled throughout the cities of Japan, including Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe, Marioka, Sapporo, Fukuoka, Chiba, Hakodate and Himeji. He was commissioned for portraits for both business leaders and political figures. He later returned to the European market, painting both commissions and hosting personal exhibitions in France, England, Germany, and Belgium. During this period, his most noted works include the President of the Republic of Bulgaria, the President of the Republic of Cyprus, and the Lebanese Patriarch (which now hangs in the Vatican).

In 1999, Rossin began exhibiting his work in the United States. In the spring of 2001, Rossin began working with his current business partner, Karen Hudson, and the two developed Portrait Partners Inc. Rossin, his wife Ava, and their newborn son Michael moved to Atlanta, GA on a permanent basis that fall. In 2010, Rossin became a United States citizen.

Once in the United States, Rossin has focused his professional work on both contemporary and traditional portraits. Rossin's large-scale painting, "A Meeting in Time” was unveiled at the Booth Western Art Museum.[1] The thirteen foot tall by twenty foot wide piece depicts the presidents of the 20th century gathered in the Cross Hall of the White House. In the first decade of the new millennium, Rossin created a collection of large-scale portraits called “American Royalty”. The portraits in this collection include Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Audrey Hepburn, Jackie Kennedy and Babe Ruth.[2]

The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery has four portraits done by Rossin.

-Legendary Civil Rights leader, close associate to Dr. Martin Luther King, Congressman, and two time Mayor of Atlanta, Ambassador Andrew Young. It was acquired by the Smithsonian in 2010.[3]

-World famous movie star, Morgan Freeman sat for Rossin in 2012. The portrait was acquired by the Smithsonian in the following year.

-Rossin did the portrait of the baseball legend, Hank Aaron in 2010 and the portrait was acquired by the Smithsonian in 2010.[4]

-America’s greatest poet of the 20th century, Maya Angelou, sat for her portrait shortly after her 86th birthday in 2013. The portrait was acquired and unveiled in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in April, 2014.[5]

On April 7, 2015, the US Postal Service unveiled the national forever stamp dedicated to the late Maya Angelou using Rossin’s portrait in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery.[6]

In October–November, 2016, Rossin had a solo exhibition in the Palace of Nations, U.N Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. He presented a collection of large-scale portraits of ordinary people he met in his travels around the world, mostly in India, as well as extraordinary individuals he met like Desmond Tutu in South Africa, President Jimmy Carter, CNN founder Ted Turner and others. The exhibition was opened by the director-general of the United Nations and it was called “Ultimately Human”.[7]

On March 29, 2017, Rossin's nine foot bronze statue of Hank Aaron was unveiled at the newly opened Suntrust Park Stadium in Atlanta, GA.[8][9]

In April 2017, Rossin had a solo exhibition in the Russian Parliament, Duma, presenting ten large-scale portraits of legendary Russian historical and cultural figures. His portrait of Leo Tolstoy was accepted and is part of the permanent collection of the Leo Tolstoy State Museum in Moscow, Russia.