Acrylic on canvas , (Magna). Signed, dated and titled on the reverse of the canvas, there also inscribed with the dimensions, the technique, and two direction arrows. 145 x 333 cm. - Monumental format by a leading figure of American Abstract Expressionism. - In 1948, he was part of the inner circle around Willem and Elaine de Kooning, Franz Kline, Jackson Pollock, and the then-leading art critic Clement Greenberg. - In the 1950s, he shared his Manhattan studio apartment with Helen Frankenthaler and was represented by the legendary Leo Castelli Gallery. - At an early point, works from this period were acquired by renowned American museums such as the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. We are grateful to Dr. Patricia L Lewy, Director, Friedel Dzubas Estate Archives, for the kind support in cataloging this lot. LITERATURE: Christie's New York, Contemporary Art, November 13, 1991, lot 163 (illustrated.).
The relevance of his work was recognized early on by museums such as the Cleveland Museum of Art (OH), the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MA), the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (CA) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, (NY), which purchased his works. During his lifetime, the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. honored him with a comprehensive retrospective to him. In 1977, the Kunsthalle Bielefeld showed the only monographic exhibition in Germany to date. Currently, the Museum Reinhard Ernst in Wiesbaden presents the large-format painting “Argonaut” (1983) to demonstrate that the time has come for a rediscovery of Friedel Dzubas in Europe.
Knoedler & Company, New York Private collection, New York (acquired from the above in 1975) Private collection (since 1991, Christie's New York) Private collection (acquired from the above in 2017)
Friedel Dzubas's paintings represent a fundamental contribution to American Color Field Painting. Born in 1915, the German-American artist was able to escape the Nazi regime in 1939 by taking a few detours. He had worked at an educational farm for young people of Jewish descent in Groß-Breesen near Wroclaw, where they acquired skills that facilitated obtaining a visa to enter the United States. Upon arrival in the US, he initially found employment with a sister organization, an agricultural camp in Hyde Farmlands, Virginia; however, he soon moved on. In his hometown of Berlin, he had completed an arts and crafts apprenticeship with a wall decoration company. In the US, he tried his hand at various occupations before eventually landing a job as a successful graphic designer in Chicago, where he was also able to pursue his artistic endeavors. In 1945, Friedel Dzubas eventually settled in New York, where he met Clement Greenberg through a classified ad; Greenberg was looking for a place outside New York where he wanted to spend the summer of 1948 with his son. This was just what Dzubas had to offer, and Greenberg took him up on it. This led to a lifelong friendship, marking a decisive artistic turning point for Friedel Dzubas. Through Greenberg, the most influential art critic at the time, he got to know circles around Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Franz Kline. He became part of the "Eight Street Club," which frequently met in Greenwich Village, where the artists discussed important current issues and made contacts. Living and working in this highly innovative artistic environment represented a liberation for Dzubas, who mentioned the tremendous influence Pollock had on him, not so much in terms of technique but the potential of artistic freedom that Pollock explored. It is precisely this freedom that enabled Friedel Dzubas to carve out his artistic path. Kathryn S. Dreier selected a watercolor by Friedel Dzubas for her Société Anonyme Collection in 1948 (now at the Yale Art Gallery). She wrote: “Tremendously impressed, both by your color and by the rare quality of technique which you have developed in your watercolors.” and subsequently asked him to show his work to Marcel Duchamp. In 1952, the year he shared his studio apartment with Helen Frankenthaler, he had his first solo exhibition at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery in New York, and in 1958, his first exhibition at Leo Castelli's. Helen Frankenthaler adopted the painting technique on floor canvases from Dzubas, thus breaking away from the classical easel painting style. Frankenthaler's painting “Mountains and Sea” (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.), considered a breakthrough for American abstract art due to this painting technique, was created in 1952. After his naturalization in the United States in 1959, he regained the courage to travel to Germany and visit his former home city of Berlin. He spends 10 months in Germany and Austria. This journey into the war-torn past substantially impacted him and led to the creation of the so-called “Black Drawings.” In general, the trip provided him with great inspiration. Color, for instance, was used on a higher, more emotional, and expressive level, influenced by the Baroque painting he had seen on his European journey. Friedel Dzubas mentioned Tiepolo's ceiling fresco in the Würzburg Residence as a source of inspiration, which also becomes evident in ‘Viking Voyage.’ The elongated format and the dynamic arrangement of the blocks of sensitively flowing colors make the painting captivating. Friedel Dzubas' paintings have such a remarkable effect because of how he applied the colors. From 1965, Dzubas started using 'Magna' paint, an acrylic paint that can be mixed with oil and thinned with turpentine. 'Magna' paint has an exceptional shine; it can be applied directly to the canvas with or without a primer without bleeding. When dry, this paint has a unique, slightly opaque shine. Friedel Dzubas works on a thin gesso priming (a chalk ground), which he soaks in turpentine before applying the Magna paint. This way, he can achieve an effect “in which the opacity and density of the color lie on the canvas; working from there, he can continue with glazing color application on the wet surface.” (From Kenworth Moffett, New Paintings by Friedel Dzubas, in Art International, 19, 1975, 5, p.22, note 7). This enabled him to expand the depth of the surface in a way that he had seen in Baroque ceiling paintings. He transferred this creation of infinite space into Color Field Painting.
In very good condition. The paintwork shows no signs of damage. The condition report was compiled in daylight with the help of an ultraviolet light and to the best of our knowledge and belief.
Lot Details
Acrylic on canvas , (Magna). Signed, dated and titled on the reverse of the canvas, there also inscribed with the dimensions, the technique, and two direction arrows. 145 x 333 cm. - Monumental format by a leading figure of American Abstract Expressionism. - In 1948, he was part of the inner circle around Willem and Elaine de Kooning, Franz Kline, Jackson Pollock, and the then-leading art critic Clement Greenberg. - In the 1950s, he shared his Manhattan studio apartment with Helen Frankenthaler and was represented by the legendary Leo Castelli Gallery. - At an early point, works from this period were acquired by renowned American museums such as the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. We are grateful to Dr. Patricia L Lewy, Director, Friedel Dzubas Estate Archives, for the kind support in cataloging this lot. LITERATURE: Christie's New York, Contemporary Art, November 13, 1991, lot 163 (illustrated.).
The relevance of his work was recognized early on by museums such as the Cleveland Museum of Art (OH), the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MA), the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (CA) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, (NY), which purchased his works. During his lifetime, the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. honored him with a comprehensive retrospective to him. In 1977, the Kunsthalle Bielefeld showed the only monographic exhibition in Germany to date. Currently, the Museum Reinhard Ernst in Wiesbaden presents the large-format painting “Argonaut” (1983) to demonstrate that the time has come for a rediscovery of Friedel Dzubas in Europe.
Knoedler & Company, New York Private collection, New York (acquired from the above in 1975) Private collection (since 1991, Christie's New York) Private collection (acquired from the above in 2017)
Friedel Dzubas's paintings represent a fundamental contribution to American Color Field Painting. Born in 1915, the German-American artist was able to escape the Nazi regime in 1939 by taking a few detours. He had worked at an educational farm for young people of Jewish descent in Groß-Breesen near Wroclaw, where they acquired skills that facilitated obtaining a visa to enter the United States. Upon arrival in the US, he initially found employment with a sister organization, an agricultural camp in Hyde Farmlands, Virginia; however, he soon moved on. In his hometown of Berlin, he had completed an arts and crafts apprenticeship with a wall decoration company. In the US, he tried his hand at various occupations before eventually landing a job as a successful graphic designer in Chicago, where he was also able to pursue his artistic endeavors. In 1945, Friedel Dzubas eventually settled in New York, where he met Clement Greenberg through a classified ad; Greenberg was looking for a place outside New York where he wanted to spend the summer of 1948 with his son. This was just what Dzubas had to offer, and Greenberg took him up on it. This led to a lifelong friendship, marking a decisive artistic turning point for Friedel Dzubas. Through Greenberg, the most influential art critic at the time, he got to know circles around Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Franz Kline. He became part of the "Eight Street Club," which frequently met in Greenwich Village, where the artists discussed important current issues and made contacts. Living and working in this highly innovative artistic environment represented a liberation for Dzubas, who mentioned the tremendous influence Pollock had on him, not so much in terms of technique but the potential of artistic freedom that Pollock explored. It is precisely this freedom that enabled Friedel Dzubas to carve out his artistic path. Kathryn S. Dreier selected a watercolor by Friedel Dzubas for her Société Anonyme Collection in 1948 (now at the Yale Art Gallery). She wrote: “Tremendously impressed, both by your color and by the rare quality of technique which you have developed in your watercolors.” and subsequently asked him to show his work to Marcel Duchamp. In 1952, the year he shared his studio apartment with Helen Frankenthaler, he had his first solo exhibition at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery in New York, and in 1958, his first exhibition at Leo Castelli's. Helen Frankenthaler adopted the painting technique on floor canvases from Dzubas, thus breaking away from the classical easel painting style. Frankenthaler's painting “Mountains and Sea” (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.), considered a breakthrough for American abstract art due to this painting technique, was created in 1952. After his naturalization in the United States in 1959, he regained the courage to travel to Germany and visit his former home city of Berlin. He spends 10 months in Germany and Austria. This journey into the war-torn past substantially impacted him and led to the creation of the so-called “Black Drawings.” In general, the trip provided him with great inspiration. Color, for instance, was used on a higher, more emotional, and expressive level, influenced by the Baroque painting he had seen on his European journey. Friedel Dzubas mentioned Tiepolo's ceiling fresco in the Würzburg Residence as a source of inspiration, which also becomes evident in ‘Viking Voyage.’ The elongated format and the dynamic arrangement of the blocks of sensitively flowing colors make the painting captivating. Friedel Dzubas' paintings have such a remarkable effect because of how he applied the colors. From 1965, Dzubas started using 'Magna' paint, an acrylic paint that can be mixed with oil and thinned with turpentine. 'Magna' paint has an exceptional shine; it can be applied directly to the canvas with or without a primer without bleeding. When dry, this paint has a unique, slightly opaque shine. Friedel Dzubas works on a thin gesso priming (a chalk ground), which he soaks in turpentine before applying the Magna paint. This way, he can achieve an effect “in which the opacity and density of the color lie on the canvas; working from there, he can continue with glazing color application on the wet surface.” (From Kenworth Moffett, New Paintings by Friedel Dzubas, in Art International, 19, 1975, 5, p.22, note 7). This enabled him to expand the depth of the surface in a way that he had seen in Baroque ceiling paintings. He transferred this creation of infinite space into Color Field Painting.
In very good condition. The paintwork shows no signs of damage. The condition report was compiled in daylight with the help of an ultraviolet light and to the best of our knowledge and belief.
Friedel Dzubas
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