Dubsky’s Austrian parents fled to London from Vienna in the pre-war years. His life and the tragic hue of his outlook were moulded by these historical events. In the wake of the tradition launched by Matisse and de Staël, his pictures are based on the direct sensual experience of juxtaposed colours and interlocking surfaces. His almost traditional painting progressed from the initial figurative period toward abstraction, giving later way again to figurativeness of a singular tone. However, Dubsky always kept aloof of the popular artistic trends.
His slacker, more relaxed compositions made upon the influence of a scholarship to Rome in the mid-’60s brought him increasing recognition. From the beginning of his career, he displayed great interest in the tenets of the great predecessor of modern English painting, David Bomberg (1890-1957). The portrait on the verge of abstraction evokes his memory, indicating the adoption of the principles of the great forerunner. In this phase of his work, Dubsky was especially fond, similarly to Bomberg, of the physical experience of the surface texture created from dense, grainy paint mass, and a pictorial composition built of large expressive forms.
Ferenc Tóth
This record is subject to revision due to ongoing research.
