Irwin Rubin (1930-2006)



Education


Brooklyn Museum Art School

Certificate, The Cooper Union School of Art, New York, NY, 1952

BFA, Yale University School of Art, New Haven, CT, 1953

MFA, Yale University School of Art, New Haven, CT, 1955

   (Yale Norfolk scholarship recipient)



Exhibition History (Chronological) 


1956

Solo Exhibition, Studies in Design, University Art Gallery, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL

1960 

Little International, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD

Six Techniques — Six Nationalities, Bertha Schaefer Gallery, New York, NY

Group Exhibition, Gallerie Iris Clert, Paris, France

New Forms — New Media I, Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, NY (exhibition catalog)

New Forms — New Media II, Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, NY

1961 

Gallery Group: American & European Paintings & Sculpture, Bertha Schaefer Gallery, New York, NY

New Directions, The Pace Gallery, Boston, MA

Eighty Works from the Richard Brown Baker Collection, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN (exhibition catalog)

1962

Joseph Konzal, Glen Michaels, Irwin Rubin, Bertha Schaefer Gallery, New York, NY

Wit and Whimsy in Twentieth Century Art, organized by The American Federation of Arts, curated by Kenneth B. Sawyer, Stella Elkins Tyler School of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA, traveled to:

   Tulane University, New Orleans, LA (1962)

   University of Missouri, Columbia, MO (1963)

   Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI (1963)

   Utah Museum of Fine Art, Salt Lake City, UT (1963)

   Ohio State University, Columbus, OH (1963)

   Witte Memorial Museum, San Antonia, TX (1963)

   University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI (1963)

   State University of New York, Oswego, NY (1964)

1963

The Richard Brown Baker Collection of Contemporary Art, Jewett Art Center, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA (exhibition catalog)

Group Exhibition, Irwin Rubin, Karin Van Leyden, Sheldon Machlin, Bertha Schaefer Gallery, New York, NY

1964

Paintings and Construction of the 1960’s: Selected from the Richard Brown Baker Collection, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI (exhibition catalog)

Group Exhibition, Stable Gallery, New York, NY

1965

Art of the 50’s and 60’s: Selections from the Richard Brown Baker Collection, “Old Hundred,” The Larry Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield, CT (exhibition catalog)

A Contemporary Collection of Painting and Sculpture: Selected from the Collection of Eleanor Ward, Lyman Allyn Museum, New London, CT (exhibition catalog)

The Box Show, Byron Gallery, New York, NY

1967

Group Exhibition of Members’ Gallery Collection, The Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo, NY

1969

Selections from the Richard Brown Baker Collection, University of Notre Dame Art Gallery, South Bend, IN (exhibition catalog)

West Side Artists 1969, Goddard-Riverside Community Center, New York, NY (exhibition catalog)

1971

Education of an Architect: A Point of View, teaching statement and students’ work exhibited, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (exhibition catalog)

2023

Color at Cooper, curated by Mackenzie Williams and Mary Mann, Cooper Union Library, New York, NY



Public Collections


Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, New York, NY

Smithsonian Archives of American Art, Washington, DC

Green-Wood Historic Fund Collections, Brooklyn, NY

Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT, bequest of Richard Brown Baker

RISD Museum, Providence, RI, bequest of Richard Brown Baker

Sheldon Museum of Art, Lincoln, NE, bequest of Bertha Schaefer

Josef and Anni Albers Foundation Archives, Bethany, CT

New York University, New York, NY, gift of Philip Johnson



Bibliography


Carmelle Safdie, "Constructing the Miniature Museum: from the Irwin Rubin Archive," Spaces Archives (blog), November 15, 2022 https://spacesarchives.org/resources/blog/rubin-archive/

Charles Darwent, Josef Albers: Life and Work, Thames & Hudson (New York), 2018, pp. 242, 243, 246-7 

Anna Hammond, editor, “Acquisitions, July 1, 2007–June 30, 2008: Modern and Contemporary” Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin 2008, Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, CT), 2008, pp. 217, 229

Gary Tinterow, Lisa Mintz Messinger, and Nan Rosenthal, editors, Abstract Expressionism and Other Modern Works: The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), Yale University Press (New Haven, London), 2007, p. 171 

Brenda Danilowitz and Frederick A. Horowitz, Josef Albers; To Open Eyes: The Bauhaus, Black Mountain College, and Yale, Phaidon Press (New York, London), 2009, p. 277 

John Hejduk, et al., “Freehand Drawing,” Education of an Architect: The Cooper Union School of Art and Architecture, 1964-1971, The Monacelli Press (New York, NY), 2000 (illustrations of students’ work)

Peter Hastings Falk, et al., editors, “Irwin Rubin,” Who Was Who in American Art 1564-1975: 400 Years of Artists in America, Vol. III, P-Z, Sound View Press ((Madison, CT), 1999, p. 2849

Alexander Caragonne, et al., The Texas Rangers: Notes from an Architectural Underground, MIT Press (Cambridge, MA - London, England), 1995, pp. 2, 11, 51, 67, 174, 368 (illustration of students’ work)

Cynthia Maris Dantzic, Design Dimensions: an Introduction to the Visual Surface, Prentice Hall (Englewood Cliffs, NJ), 1990, pp. 35, 58 (illustrations of students’ work fig. 1.32, 2.34)

Paul Gardner, "Richard Baker's Amazing Mini-Museum," Art News, vol. 77. no. 1, January 1978, pp. 44-48 (photo p. 45) 

Kenneth Frampton, “Notes from Underground,” Artforum, vol 10, no. 8, April 1972 pp. 40-46

John Hejduk, et al., “Freehand Drawing,” Education of an Architect: A Point of View, exhibition catalog, Cooper Union (New York, NY), 1971, pp. 35-45, 323 (illustrations of students’ work)

Louis Calta, “To Children A-R-T is as Easy as A-B-C: West Side Center Teaches Meaning of Hue and Form” The New York Times, May 4, 1969, p.62

West Side Artists 1969, exhibition catalog, Goddard-Riverside Community Center, April 1969, p. 6, no. 28

Roger Birdsell, "Art at Notre Dame," South Bend Tribune, February 8, 1969, pp. 18-19

Anthony J. Lauck, Selections from the Richard Brown Baker Collection, exhibition catalog, University of Notre Dame, January 1969, pp. 1, 8, (no. 45)

Dore Ashton, A Contemporary Collection of Painting and Sculpture: Selected from the Collection of Eleanor Ward, exhibition catalog, Lyman Allyn Museum, May 1965, pp. 28, 31

Laurie Schmidtke, “A Review: Paintings and Constructions of the 1960s,” Blockprint, Rhode Island School of Designs, Providence RI, vol. 13, no. 5, October 21, 1964, pp. 1-2

Art of the 50’s and 60’s: Selections from the Richard Brown Baker Collection, exhibition catalog, The Larry Aldrich Museum, April 1965, no. 89-90 

Hugh J. Gourley III, Richard Brown Baker, Paintings and Construction of the 1960’s: Selected from the Richard Brown Baker Collection, exhibition catalog, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, October 1964, p. 28 (no. 38-41)

“Gallery Shows, Museum Exhibits,” The New York Times, December 1, 1963, p. 214

Julia Gray Phelps, The Richard Brown Baker Collection of Contemporary Art, exhibition catalog, Jewett Art Center, Wellesley College, May 1963, p.4

Alice Adams, “Exhibitions: The Wall,” Craft Horizons, vol. 22, no. 2, March 1, 1962, p. 41

John Canaday, “Sculpture Coming Up: It Dominates Painting in the Sixties,” The New York Times, January 7, 1962, p. 131

Irwin Rubin, “New Talent USA: Painting” selected by Richard Brown Baker and Dorothy Gees Seckler, Art In America, vol. 50, no. 1, 1962, p. 30 

Richard Brown Baker, “Notes on the Formation of my Collection,” Art International, vol. 7, September 20, 1961, pp. 40-47

Richard Brown Baker, Martin L. Friedman, “A Major Collection of Recent Art,” Eighty Works from the Richard Brown Baker Collection, exhibition catalog, Walker Art Center, 1961, pp. 4, 13 (no. 61)

Robert Taylor, “Events in Art: Pace Group,” The Boston Herald, January 15, 1961

Lawrence Alloway, Martha Jackson, Allan Kaprow, New Forms — New Media I, exhibition catalog, Martha Jackson Gallery, October 1960, p. 17 (no. 62)

Natalie Edgar, “Six Techniques, Six Nationalities,” Art News, vol. 59, no. 6, October 1960, p.18

“New Solo and Group Exhibits,” Herald Tribune, September 18, 1960

Stuart Preston, “Art: Opening Salvos — Barrage of Group Shows Proclaims the Arrival of New Season,” The New York Times, September 17, 1960, p. 47

“For Your Information: Art and Trade Shows Worthy of Note,” Interiors, vol. CXX, no. 2. September 1960, pp. 20, 200 (fig. 6)

Bernard Chaet, “Paper Collage: Irwin Rubin,” Artists at Work, Webb Books (Cambridge, MA), 1960, pp. 69-71

Bernard Chaet “Paper Collage and Permanency: Interview with Irwin Rubin,” Studio Talk, Arts, vol. 32, no.4, January 1958, pp. 62-63 

“Irwin Rubin to Show ‘Studies in Design,’” Florida State University publication, 1956



Lending Libraries


Art Lending Service, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, 1961-1968 (consigned by Bertha Schaefer Gallery)

Members’ Gallery (formerly the Picture Lending Service), Albright-Knox Art Gallery, 1964-1969 (consigned by Bertha Schaefer Gallery)



Gallery Affiliations


Bertha Schaefer Gallery, New York, NY

Stable Gallery, New York, NY



Teaching Experience


1956 School of Architecture, University of Texas, Austin, TX

   Instructor: Color and Drawing

1956-1958 Department of Art, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL

   Assistant Professor: Color, Drawing, Two-Dimensional Design

1964-1967 Foundation Department, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York

   Adjunct Instructor: Color

1967-1974 Department of Architecture, The Cooper Union, New York, NY

   1967-1971 Adjunct Instructor: Drawing

   1968 Summer Program for the Disadvantaged: Drawing

   1971-1974 Assistant Professor: Color, Drawing, and (Art School) Two- Dimensional Design

1974-2001 School of Art, The Cooper Union, New York, NY

   1974-1977 Assistant Professor: Color and Drawing

   1977-1992 Associate Professor: Color and Advanced Color

   1991-1993 Acting Associate Dean

   1992-2001 Professor: Color



Professional Experience


1958-1963 Art Director, McGraw Hill Book Company, Webster Division, New York, NY

1968-1984 Art Director, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., School Division, New York, NY

1984-1990 Freelance Designer and Production Designer, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., and Holt Rinehart Winston, New York, NY