Maurice Golubov abstract miniature: Brooklyn Streetscape, 1937. Gouache on paper, 1 1/4 x. 4 1/4 inches.

environment," says Michael Golubov,
who treasures a painting of the
archangel Michael done by his father
specifically for him. "The move from
abstractions to figures seems natural
as he used loose brush strokes for
both."

"I never asked my father what the
paintings meant," the son says. "He
asked what I saw."
Michael Golubov explains his father

Jewish Themes

Michael Golubov points out the
repeated use of diamond shapes.
He says that he has determined the
shape came from the railroad tracks
his father repeatedly saw receding
into the horizon as family members
made their way to America.
The somber color schemes shown
in the figurative images often relate
to the artist's understanding of the
Warsaw Ghetto and the deep effect
that had on him.

Maurice Golubov Hebrew letters: Untitled,
1955. Gouache and pencil on paper, 2 314 x
5 3/4 inches.

was absorbed in Jewish culture and that
the lettered images derived from that.
The family would host evenings during

Maurice Golubov geometric: Untitled Abstract, 1970. Oil on canvas, 41 x 44 inches.

which guests would hear his mother at
the piano and his father reading
Yiddish literature.
"My father was religious in his own
way," Michael Golubov says. "He
was everything in his own way. He
would sometimes explain geome-
try by saying that God made the
first point."
After moving to Florida following
his wife's death in 1973, Golubov,
remarried to a neighbor, agreed to
representation by the Tibor de
Nagy Gallery in New York City,
where there was a resurgence of
interest in his work. The Mint
Museum in North Carolina organ-
ized a traveling retrospective in 1980.
Maurice Golubov's paintings
remain in the collections of the
Museum of Modern Art in New York,
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New

York and the McNay Art Museum in
San Antonio, among many other pub-
lic places. With the recent local atten-
tion, two pieces have been acquired by
the Detroit Institute of Arts.
"My father never experienced a cre-
ative block or a shortage of subject
matter," Michael Golubov says. "He
had more ideas than he could ever
record in his lifetime." ❑

Maurice Golubov: A Life's Work
will be on exhibit Oct. 26-Nov.
30 at the Lemberg Gallery,
23241 Woodward, Ferndale.
Gallery hours are 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
Tuesdays-Saturdays. A feception
will be held 5-7 p.m. Saturday,
Oct. 26. (248) 591-6623.

Maurice Golubov miniature: Untitled Figures, 1944.
Gouache and pencil on paper, 6 3/4 x 5 1 /2 inches.

10/18

2002

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