Friedel Dzubas (1915-1994) was a Berlin-born, American abstract painter and a key artist associated with both the New York School and the Color Field movement. 

Dzubas studied art in Germany before fleeing the Nazi regime in 1939, settling in New York City. During the 1940s, Dzubas circulated with some of the leading abstract painters in the city's vital art scene. One of Dzubas' first major exhibitions took place at the 9th Street Art Exhibition in 1951, a groundbreaking art exhibit featuring the new American avant-garde. This exhibition acted as an informal debut of the New York School. 

Dzubas worked in close proximity to, and was strongly influenced by, the emerging Color Field painters and the writing of Clement Greenberg. He shared a studio with Helen Frankenthaler as she began pouring and staining her canvases. The two evolved and each surpassed the techniques embraced by the Abstract Expressionists. 

This work is exemplary of Dzubas' use and love of color. The painter did not delve into printmaking with the same intensity as his contemporaries. However like many of the leading American artists in the late 1970s and early 1980s he did experiment with cast pulp paper, a process in which paper is pulverized and pressed into moulds. The technique was embraced for its texture and the unique way in which colors were absorbed and presented. 

This work is a fine example of the artist's abstract use of color and form, but is denser and more layered than his signature compositions.

In this work colorful slices of dusty blue, grape, coral, sea-foam green, tangerine, marigold, sky blue, and teal flow into and out of each other, seemingly converging near the centre. The phantasmic colors, forms, textures, and circular shapes canvas create a cosmological effect, like viewing a dreamy galaxy or planet. This kaleidoscope-like confection is a reminder of Dzubas' eye for pairing colors and textures in unique combinations. 

Today Friedel Dzubas' works hang in the permanent collections of some of the most prestigious art institutions in the world; including, the Whitney Museum (NY), the Guggenheim (NY), the Smithsonian American Art Museum (NY), and the Albright-Knox (Buffalo).

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Untitled (GT/FD 1982 W1) aka "Kaleidoscope" 

USA, 1982

Unique cast pulp paper monotype

Signed and dated in pencil by the artist

32.75”H 35”W(sheet)

Printed at the Garner Tullis Workshop (California) 

Very good condition