B. FAIRFIELD, CT, 1926
D. TENANTS HARBOR, ME, 2015
Charles Steven DuBack was born in Fairfield, Connecticut in 1926, the first (of ten) born to Czechoslovakian parents. After high school, Charles DuBack volunteered with the U.S.Navy from 1944–46. On the G.I. Bill, DuBack attended art schools in New Haven, Newark, Brooklyn, as well as the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture for five summers, beginning in 1950, where his affection for Maine and many lifelong friendships began. In 1954, DuBack and his wife, artist Daphne Mumford, purchased their first home in Maine, and began to split time between mid-coast Maine and Manhattan for nearly forty years.
DuBack was a founding member of two co-operative galleries in New York: Area Gallery on East 10th Street (1958–1965) and Landmark Gallery on Broome Street (1972–1982).
DuBack's work ranges from his early color field and stripe paintings of the 1950s, to portraiture and iconic figurative ensembles of the 1960s–70s, to landscape (1970s–80s), and finally to vibrant "notational abstractions" of nature (1990s–2015). DuBack’s 1960s and '70s figurative work has a brevity, accuracy, and gestural mark-making, which can be associated with artists such as Alex Katz and Lois Dodd, who were colleagues and friends in New York and Maine. DuBack developed a unique process of adhering real objects, like pieces of clothing, flags, and sailcloth, to his compositions, calling this work “projections” or “sculpto-paintings.”
DuBack's first solo show was in 1953 with Roko Gallery in New York City. His work was included in the 1962 Museum of Modern Art exhibition Recent Painting U.S.A: The Figure. In 2009, the Portland Museum of Art celebrated DuBack's oeuvre with a major retrospective.
By 1990, DuBack moved full time to his home in on the Saint George River, in Tenants Harbor, Maine, where he lived and worked until his death in 2015.
Charles DuBack
Landmark Gallery Through The Window, 1973
oil on canvas, with wood construction
73 1/2h x 73 1/2w in
186.69h x 186.69w cm
CDUB022
Charles DuBack
Ann on Bowsprit, 1970
oil on canvas with sails
144h x 72w x 32d in
365.76h x 182.88w x 81.28d cm
CDUB024
Charles DuBack
Goodbye 304 Bowery, c. 1970
oil on canvas
72h x 48w in
Charles DuBack
Eddy, 1960
oil on canvas
69h x 35 1/2w in
175.26h x 90.17w cm
CDUB041
Charles DuBack
Portrait (Deborah), 1975
oil on canvas
30h x 39w in
76.20h x 99.06w cm
CDUB010
Charles DuBack
Untitled, 1962
Oil on canvas
44h x 32w in
Charles DuBack
Danny (Yale), 1965
oil, linen, applique on board
66 3/4h x 62 1/4w in
Charles DuBack
Model, 1963
oil on canvas
58 1/2h x 45w in
Charles DuBack
Two Nudes on Rocks, 1970
acrylic on linen
26h x 26w in
66.04h x 66.04w cm
CDUB027
Charles DuBack
Daphne Sailing, 1970
oil and wood on canvas
82h x 72w in
Charles DuBack
Lighthouse, 1964
oil on canvas
47h x 59 1/2w in
119.38h x 151.13w cm
CDUB015
Charles DuBack
Black, Grey, White and Figure, 1960
oil on canvas
72h x 74w in
Frieze New York proved surprisingly robust, answering the question, “Can a fair survive online?”
Eric Firestone, who sold Charles Duback’s 1960 oil on canvas “Black and White (Anne Waterhouse)” on opening day for $200,000, said he appreciated the data feedback, which told him which works got the most views and how long they were viewed. He also said the price transparency was a welcome development. “It’s very intimidating sometimes for the viewer to ask what a painting price is,” he said. “It helps level the playing field to say, ‘This is what we’re asking.’”