Judith Rothschild (1921-1993), a brilliant colorist with a keen eye for composition, gained success as a young artist in New York in the 1940s. Following her graduation from Wellesley in 1943, Rothschild studied at the Art Students League with Reginald Marsh, at Stanley William Hayter’s Atelier 17, and with Hans Hofmann and Karl Knaths. Recognized as a gifted and precocious abstract painter, in 1945 she became a member of the Jane Street group, which included artists Leland Bell, Nell Blaine, Jane Freilicher, and Larry Rivers. Her first solo exhibition was held at their space, Jane Street Gallery, in December 1945. Firmly rooted in the order of Cubism but painted with the vitality of an emergent talent, Rothschild's paintings and collages retain a freshness in rhythm with contemporary sensibilities, worthy of reexamination.

Rothschild was a member and later president of the American Abstract Artists, an editor of Leonardo magazine, and is well known for her philanthropic foundation aiding artist estates in their preservation of work and materials. Her work is included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, among others.