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Archives of American Art
Oral history interview with Charles Duback
Summary
- Collection ID:
- AAA.duback04
- Creators:
-
DuBack, Charles S., 1926-Larsen, Susan C.
- Dates:
-
2004 December 15-2005 May 18
- Languages:
-
English.
- Physical Description:
-
36 PagesTranscript
- Repository:
Scope and Contents
Scope and Contents
An interview of Charles Duback conducted 2004 December 15-2005 May 18, by Susan C. Larsen, for the Archives of American Art, in Tenants Harbor, Maine.
Scope and Contents
Mr. Duback discusses his childhood; his Czech lineage; working at his father's bakery and gaining artistic sensibilities there; the drive to become an artist, and the financial risks therein; joining the Navy during World War II; attending trade school in New Haven, Connecticut, and the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Art in Newark, New Jersey; attending the Skowhegan School in Maine; his first wife Daphne Mumford; sustaining two homes, one in New York City and another in Maine, and the difficulties in maintaining them; the influence of collage on his paintings; his "strip" paintings; the opening and closing of the Landmark Gallery; making his "projections," wherein he adheres objects to a painting's canvas; and the friends he made during his time running Landmark. Duback also mentions moving from North Waldoboro, Maine to St. George, Maine; moving again to Germantown, New York; finding living in New York difficult; divorcing Mumford; his second wife Phyllis; rising tax and insurance costs and what they mean to artists; and painting as a career. Duback recalls Bernard Langlais, Helen Langlais, Edward Dugmore, Alex Katz, Wes LaFountain, Red Grooms, George Ortman, Myron Stout, George McNeil, Dennis Pinette, John Grillo, Henry Varnum Poor, and others.
Biographical / Historical
Biographical / Historical
Charles S. DuBack (1926-) is a painter of Tenants Harbor, Maine. Susan C. Larsen, interviewer, is an art historian in Tenants Harbor, Maine.
Administration
Sponsor
Funding for this interview provided by the King and Jean Cummings Fund. Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Digital Content
More Information
General
General
Originally recorded on 2 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 11 min.
Keywords
Archives of American Art
750 9th Street, NW
Victor Building, Suite 2200
Washington, D.C. 20001
https://www.aaa.si.edu/services/questions