Oral history interview with Charles Duback
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 2 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 11 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: DuBack, Charles S., 1926-
label: Interviewer
content: Larsen, Susan C.
label: Names
content: Landmark Gallery (New York, N.Y.)
label: Names
content: Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts
label: Names
content: Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture
label: Names
content: Dugmore, Edward, 1915-
label: Names
content: Grillo, John, 1917-
label: Names
content: Grooms, Red
label: Names
content: Katz, Alex, 1927-
label: Names
content: Langlais, Bernard, 1921-1977
label: Names
content: McNeil, George, 1908-1995
label: Names
content: Ortman, George, 1926-
label: Names
content: Pinette, Dennis, 1951-
label: Names
content: Poor, Henry Varnum, 1887-1970
label: Names
content: Stout, Myron, 1908-1987
topic: label: Occupation
content: Painters -- Maine -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: World War, 1939-1945
label: Topic
content: Art -- Economic aspects
label: Topic
content: Collage
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: 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.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: DuBack, Charles S., 1926-
label: Interviewer
content: Larsen, Susan C.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Charles S. DuBack (1926-) is a painter of Tenants Harbor, Maine. Susan C. Larsen, interviewer, is an art historian in Tenants Harbor, Maine.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 36 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2004 December 15-2005 May 18
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.duback04
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: 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.
label: Scope and Contents
content: 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.