?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 5,000 - $ 8,000
FRIEDEL DZUBAS Untitled.
Oil on canvas, circa 1950. 585x230 mm; 23x9 1/8 inches. Signed "Friedelbald" in oil, lower right recto.
The estate of the artist; thence by descent to the artist's son; acquired from the artist's son by the current owner, private collection, New York.
This is an early work by Dzubas (1915-1994), who was born in Germany and fled his native country in 1939 to move to New York. He had no formal artistic training and started his art career in the United States. He shared a studio with Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011) from 1952-53, and during this time he also started to exhibit his work, including at the famous Ninth Street Show in 1951. At this early time in his career he frequently signed his work "Friedelbald" as this was before he changed his name to Friedel.
Often considered part of the Color Field movement, his work differed from others in the group as he juxtaposed and crossed forms over gesso leaving them saturated—many artists in the movement diluted their colors. He exhibited his work at significant galleries during his lifetime, including Tibor De Nagy, Leo Castelli Gallery and André Emmerich. Numerous prominent museums have exhibited his work during the last several decades and continue to hold his paintings in their permanent collections, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
According to the artist's son, this is a portrait of Helen Frankenthaler, Dzubas's studio mate at the time.
