Friedel Dzubas

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Biography

Friedel Dzubas, born in 1915 and later becoming a naturalized American, was an abstract painter of German origin. Before escaping Nazi Germany in 1939 and settling in New York City, Dzubas received formal art education. During the early 1950s in Manhattan, he shared a studio with fellow abstract painter Helen Frankenthaler. It was during this period that he began showcasing his Abstract Expressionist paintings. His artwork was featured in the Ninth Street Show in New York City in 1951, as well as group exhibitions at prominent galleries like Leo Castelli, the Stable Gallery, and the Tibor de Nagy Gallery.

Dzubas played a pioneering role in Color-Field painting, alongside artists such as Helen Frankenthaler, Morris Louis, and Kenneth Noland. He developed his distinctive style characterized by vibrant hues applied in thick layers on large canvases. In 1966, Dzubas transitioned from using oil paints to synthetic acrylic colors, particularly "Magna" acrylic, which he utilized throughout the rest of his career. These flat expanses of color were seen by renowned critic Clement Greenberg as examples of "Post Painterly Abstraction" or, more generally, "Color-Field" painting.

Through his artistic process, Dzubas created areas of dense color alongside sections where the color appeared almost translucent. For him, these paintings represented natural phenomena, emotions, painterly gestures, and the inherent experience of color itself. Numerous private and public collections hold his artworks as valuable contributions to the art world.