Allan Kubach and Marjorie Shaw Kubach were two married artists who explored their artistic styles together throughout their careers. The artists showed their works largely throughout New Jersey and New York, sometimes joining together for the same exhibits. The works that Detour Gallery has acquired are representative of the pair’s time in which they explored abstraction. These works were made in a postwar era, following the art world’s shifted focus to New York as the center for new modern art. Art at this time was evolving, and the experimentation of abstract expressionism, geometric abstraction, and minimalism evidently paved the path for later artists such as Allen and Marjorie. As noted in the New York Times by Vivian Reynor, Allan Kubach “specializes in strong colors, expressing them in vertical and diagonal grids laid one on top of another.” In such a manner, Allan reflects these contemporary ideals that were taking New York by storm in the 1960s and ’70s.
The linear focus and nonobjective use of color found in Allan’s work correlate to that of the pioneers of abstract and minimalistic work such as Sol Le Witt. Allan’s bold colors and strong linear layers matched the backdrop of what the New York art scene was producing at the time and had been leading up to in the years prior. Aside from these works, Detour Gallery has also acquired figurative works of Allen’s that are expressive in their execution. These works follow the breakthrough of abstract expressionism brought to New York by the likes of artists such as William de Kooning. The gestures of the artist are evident within these works, a style relating to the dynamic means of his creative process- an aspect that was highly utilized and accepted in the years prior by Pollock, Krasner, and Kline.