Skip to main content

Norman Rubington Figurative Paintings

American, 1921-1991

Norman Rubington was an artist whose career parallels those of the great names in mid-20th century art history, even as he stood apart in his desire not to emulate but to re-examine methods of expression in a distinctive voice. He was deliberate in his early studies, attending Yale University. After a three-year stint in the Army rendering reconnaissance maps, Rubington moved to Paris to study at Le Grand Chaumière and École des Beaux-Arts. He found a level of respect for artists in Europe that was not common in the United States, and this support encouraged Rubington to explore and challenge the established schools of Cubist and Expressionist painting. He was considered one of the most talented of the younger American artists in Paris and was selected for the Salon d'Automne in 1948, a rare distinction for an American. One French critic hailed Rubington's solo show at Galerie Huit in 1950 as an astonishing success. Rubington's art, he wrote, "was burning with a new flame." He exhibited with the best young French artists of the day Bernard Buffet, André Minaux, Roger Montane, as well as American painters Sidney Geist, Bill Rivers and Jules Olitsky. Under the guidance of the master printer Roger Lacourière, he also achieved a remarkable proficiency, using aquatint to eloquent effect and mastered the technique of soft-ground etching. Rubington won a Prix de Rome in 1951, a Tiffany Foundation Fellowship in 1954 and was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1958. He was a resident at the MacDowell Colony in 1970. His approach to painting and other media had an expressionist tone grounded in representation. Rubington's range of subject matter was broad and he would focus on depicting series of like compositions through a variety of approaches. His most poignant subject was humanity on the fringe.

to
1
1
1
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
2
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
2
2
1
1
1
2
514
313
283
234
1
2
Artist: Norman Rubington
Mid Century Abstract Expressionist Guitarist Figurative
Mid Century Abstract Expressionist Guitarist Figurative

Mid Century Abstract Expressionist Guitarist Figurative

By Norman Rubington

Located in Soquel, CA

Wonderful abstract expressionist painting of guitarist painted by Norman Rubington (American, 1921 - 1991) while in Rome, 1952. Signed lower left and on verso. Dated "11 - 52, Roma" ...

Category

1950s Abstract Expressionist Norman Rubington Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Seated Nude, " Norman Rubington, oil on paper, Mid-Century, Hirschhorn Museum
"Seated Nude, " Norman Rubington, oil on paper, Mid-Century, Hirschhorn Museum

"Seated Nude, " Norman Rubington, oil on paper, Mid-Century, Hirschhorn Museum

By Norman Rubington

Located in Wiscasset, ME

Born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1921, artist Norman Rubington studied at the Yale School of Fine Arts and Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris where he participated in a number of group exhibitions and his first solo show at the Salon d'Automne in 1948, which received high acclaim. Following his studies, he returned to the States and exhibited in a series of shows in Boston, New York and San Francisco. Rubington was awarded a grant from the Tiffany Foundation, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Prix de Rome prize and was a fellow of the McDowell Art Colony in New Hampshire. Rubington exhibited at the Salon d'Automne, Paris, City Center, New York, Carl Siembab Gallery, Boston, Berman Museum of Art, Pennsylvania, American Academy, Rome, Museum of Fine Arts, San Francisco, Corcoran Gallery, Washington D.C., Art Institute of Chicago, American Art Gallery, Copenhagen, Rome Art Club, and Museo Berera, Milan. Rubington's work is held in numerous private and public collections including permanent collections of the J.H. Hirschhorn Museum, Washington, D.C., San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA, Obelisk Gallery, London, Court Gallery, Copenhagen, Grace Cathedral...

Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Norman Rubington Figurative Paintings

Materials

Paper, Oil

Related Items
Woman Lying Down on White Cloth - Oil Painting - Mid-20th Century
Woman Lying Down on White Cloth - Oil Painting - Mid-20th Century

Woman Lying Down on White Cloth - Oil Painting - Mid-20th Century

Located in Roma, IT

Woman Lying Down on White Cloth is an artwork realized by an Italian Artist in mid-20th Century. Oil on cardboard 24x34 cm. Good conditions.

Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Norman Rubington Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Cardboard

"Modernist Nude" Mid Century Bold Colorful Abstract Nude Painting Oil on Canvas
"Modernist Nude" Mid Century Bold Colorful Abstract Nude Painting Oil on Canvas

"Modernist Nude" Mid Century Bold Colorful Abstract Nude Painting Oil on Canvas

Located in New York, NY

A strong modernist oil painting depicted in the 1950s by Russian, American painter Helen Stein. Mostly known for her abstract figures on canvas, this piece...

Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Norman Rubington Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

A Large, Impressive Painting of a Standing Female Nude by Artist Francis Chapin
A Large, Impressive Painting of a Standing Female Nude by Artist Francis Chapin

A Large, Impressive Painting of a Standing Female Nude by Artist Francis Chapin

By Francis Chapin

Located in Chicago, IL

A large, impressive 1930s painting of standing female nude by notable Chicago Modern artist Francis Chapin, in a gold-toned frame. Artwork size: 43 3/4 x 29 3/4 inches; Framed siz...

Category

1930s American Modern Norman Rubington Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Empathy", Abstract Expressionist, Figurative, Red, Yellow, Blue, Oil Painting
"Empathy", Abstract Expressionist, Figurative, Red, Yellow, Blue, Oil Painting

"Empathy", Abstract Expressionist, Figurative, Red, Yellow, Blue, Oil Painting

By Sorin Bica

Located in Franklin, MA

Sorin Bica's "Empathy" is a 68 x 58 x 2 inch abstract expressionist oil painting on canvas. The vibrant painting of layered red, blue, yellow, white and orange faces, with swirling f...

Category

2010s Abstract Expressionist Norman Rubington Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

A 1940s Painting of a Seated Female Nude in Summer Landscape, Ox-Bow School
A 1940s Painting of a Seated Female Nude in Summer Landscape, Ox-Bow School

A 1940s Painting of a Seated Female Nude in Summer Landscape, Ox-Bow School

By Francis Chapin

Located in Chicago, IL

A beautiful 1940s painting of a seated female nude in a summer landscape by renowned Chicago artist, Francis Chapin (Am. 1899-1965). Painted at the Oxbow School in Saugatuck, Michig...

Category

1940s American Modern Norman Rubington Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

A Captivating 1940s Modern Painting of a Seated Female Nude by Francis Chapin
A Captivating 1940s Modern Painting of a Seated Female Nude by Francis Chapin

A Captivating 1940s Modern Painting of a Seated Female Nude by Francis Chapin

By Francis Chapin

Located in Chicago, IL

A captivating, 1940s Modern painting of a seated nude on a garden bench by famed Chicago artist, Francis Chapin (Am. 1899-1965). A sensitive, skilled portrait of a young female mode...

Category

1940s American Modern Norman Rubington Figurative Paintings

Materials

Masonite, Oil

Posing Nude, Modern Oil Painting by Mikhail Turovsky
Posing Nude, Modern Oil Painting by Mikhail Turovsky

Posing Nude, Modern Oil Painting by Mikhail Turovsky

By Mikhail Turovsky

Located in Long Island City, NY

Posing Nude by Mikhail Turovsky, Russian (1933) Date: 2001 Oil on Masonite, signed lower left Size: 48 x 30.5 in. (121.92 x 77.47 cm)

Category

Early 2000s Modern Norman Rubington Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Masonite

MARCEL DYF Femme à sa Toilette, Modern Oil Painting, Framed, Mid-20th Century
MARCEL DYF Femme à sa Toilette, Modern Oil Painting, Framed, Mid-20th Century

MARCEL DYF Femme à sa Toilette, Modern Oil Painting, Framed, Mid-20th Century

By Marcel Dyf

Located in Rancho Santa Fe, CA

H 30.25 x W 26.75 x D 2 in. (framed) Signed lower right: “DYF” Dyf Archives ID No. 2063 Provenance Christie’s East, New York, Modern Paintings, Drawings & Sculptures, November 10, 1992, lot 60 as Nu à sa toilette. Private collection Private collection, New York (Purchased from above) This item is in our New York City warehouse and can be viewed by appointment. Marcel Dyf’s 1950 oil painting...

Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Norman Rubington Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

"Find Your Own Path", Abstract Expressionist, Figurative, Purple, Oil Painting
"Find Your Own Path", Abstract Expressionist, Figurative, Purple, Oil Painting

"Find Your Own Path", Abstract Expressionist, Figurative, Purple, Oil Painting

By Sorin Bica

Located in Franklin, MA

Sorin Bica's "Find Your Own Path" is a 80 x 62 x 2 inch abstract expressionist oil painting on canvas. This modern painting features bold purple, white, orange, and red tones with la...

Category

2010s Abstract Expressionist Norman Rubington Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Red Bloom Acrylic Painting on Canvas, Modern Abstract Floral Art
Red Bloom Acrylic Painting on Canvas, Modern Abstract Floral Art

Katarina JoysRed Bloom Acrylic Painting on Canvas, Modern Abstract Floral Art

$5,570Sale Price|20% Off

H 33.47 in W 37.41 in D 3.94 in

Red Bloom Acrylic Painting on Canvas, Modern Abstract Floral Art

By Katarina Joys

Located in London, London

Floral vintage tapestry abstract decor Red flowers still-life. Artist: Katarina Joys Title: Red bloom Technique: acrylic on canvas Painted in London, UK, in 2025 Dimensions: 95x85...

Category

2010s Abstract Expressionist Norman Rubington Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Cotton Canvas, Oil, Acrylic

"Pompeian Perfumer" Grace Hartigan, Roman Subject, Abstract Expressionist Artist
"Pompeian Perfumer" Grace Hartigan, Roman Subject, Abstract Expressionist Artist

"Pompeian Perfumer" Grace Hartigan, Roman Subject, Abstract Expressionist Artist

By Grace Hartigan

Located in New York, NY

Grace Hartigan Pompeian Perfumer, 1999 Signed and dated lower right; signed, titled, and dated on the reverse Oil on linen 72 x 66 inches Grace Hartigan’s career began among the Ne...

Category

1990s Abstract Expressionist Norman Rubington Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Linen, Oil

Previously Available Items
Rare Judaica Synagogue Service with Shofar
Rare Judaica Synagogue Service with Shofar

Rare Judaica Synagogue Service with Shofar

By Norman Rubington

Located in Surfside, FL

It has an old French label verso and is probably from the 1940s or 1950s A native of Connecticut, Norman Rubington was a sculpture, painter, collage, printmaker, illustrator, filmmaker, and author. He studied at Yale with Josef Albers and Fernand Léger from 1939 to 1943 when he left to serve in World War II in the Army Corps of Engineers training in map-making for military intelligence. In 1946, after his service was complete, Rubington left for Paris to study at École des Beaux-Arts and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière under the GI Bill, one of the first to use it in France. A painter of considerable prominence and commercial success, his work was regularly exhibited throughout Paris, Rome, and New York. He was a founding member with Carmen D'Avino of Galerie Huit, the first American cooperative gallery in Europe. His contemporaries while in Paris were avant-garde artists such as Braque, where Rubington frequented Braque's Parc Montsouris atelier; Constantin Brâncuși and Alberto Giacometti, part of the left bank's “La Ruche Montparnasse”; Guillaume Corneille van Beverloo, and Karel Appel founders of the Cobra and Reflex movements; as well as Jean Dubuffet. He exhibited with the best young French artists of the day--Bernard Buffet, André Minaux, Roger Montane...

Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Norman Rubington Figurative Paintings

Materials

Gouache

Nude by the Sea
Nude by the Sea

Nude by the Sea

By Norman Rubington

Located in Wiscasset, ME

Born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1921, Norman Rubington studied at the Yale School of Fine Arts and Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris where he participated in a number of group exhibiti...

Category

1950s Modern Norman Rubington Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

By the Sea
By the Sea

Norman RubingtonBy the Sea

Sold

H 15.75 in W 8.75 in

By the Sea

By Norman Rubington

Located in Wiscasset, ME

Born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1921, Norman Rubington studied at the Yale School of Fine Arts and Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris where he participated in a number of group exhibiti...

Category

1950s Modern Norman Rubington Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Paper

Norman Rubington figurative paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Norman Rubington figurative paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. If you’re browsing the collection of figurative paintings to introduce a pop of color in a neutral corner of your living room or bedroom, you can find work that includes elements of yellow and other colors. You can also browse by medium to find art by Norman Rubington in oil paint, paint, paper and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the modern style. Not every interior allows for large Norman Rubington figurative paintings, so small editions measuring 9 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Robert Petrick, Leslie Luverne Anderson, and Ryan Rivadeneyra. Norman Rubington figurative paintings prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $1,400 and tops out at $2,800, while the average work can sell for $1,700.