He travelled and sketched in the Northwest Territories, Mexico, Cuba, England, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Jordan, Israel, and Egypt.
[1] He was awarded recognition by the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Canada Council, and the Toronto Outdoor Exhibition.
He won first prize in the National Open Sculpture Competition for the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Monument.
[2] Rosenthal was the brother-in-law of Ross Dowson and was a member of the Revolutionary Workers' Party until the early 1950s when he was part of a split concerning the group's orientation towards the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation.
His wife, Joyce Rosenthal, Ross Dowson's sister, was a long-time socialist and an activist in the women's movement, particularly around abortion rights.