Herman Rose was born Herman Rappaport in Brooklyn, New York on November 5, 1909. He studied at the National Academy of Design from 1927 through 1929.

From 1934 to 1939 he worked as an assistant to Arshile Gorky in the Works Progress Andministration's Mural Division.

It took Rose 10 years to arrive at his true destiny as a painter. After passing through several 20th century styles, in 1939 he reached a pivotal decision: from this moment on he would paint exactly what he saw without regard to style or composition. His paintings were all quite small and his technique was entirely original.

He began using the name Rose when he had his first solo exhibition in 1946. Rose had 20 more solo exhibitions over the follo...