Haverstraw Landscape

According to the Federal Writers Project Guide to New York state, "Haverstraw...squats on the edge of the Hudson with its back propped against High Tor, Little Tor, and Pyngyp...Here James Wood discovered the modern system of burning brick and set up brickyards in the town...which at the peak included 40 brickyards, producing 326,000,000 brick annually" (605). We're probably looking at the remains of one such brickyard, piles of its product in the foreground.

About the Artist: Born in Kiev, Russia, Gubin immigrated to the US in 1909. She studied art at Hunter College, the Art Students League, and New York University; her teachers included Raphael Soyer, Byron Brown, and John Sloan. Initially she supported herself as an office worker, but in 1933 managed to aquire a hot dog stand on Rockaway Beach that freed up time for her painting (Syracuse Post-Standard 24 Jan. 1973: 28). Gubin’s art was exhibited at the Muncipal Art Gallery (1938), ACA Gallery (1941), and the Woodstock Artists Association (1955). She was recognized with the F. W. Weber award by the National Association of Women Artists. Gubin often is mentioned as a teacher of art; along with private lessons, she managed the summer Timberline camp at Jewett, NY (a progressive hotbed later investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee). In later years she extended her classes to disadvantaged children: “When she wants to motivate them, Miss Gubin paints portraits of the youngsters, as they appear to her in class. Her happiest experience came when she brought a smile to a little girl’s face. ‘Why are you so sad?’ the artist asked her student. ‘My mother told me I was ugly, and mothers always tell the truth,’ explained the girl. Miss Gubin then painted a portrait of a pretty, smiling girl—with a flower in her hair” Syracuse Post-Standard 11 Feb. 1974: 17). 2 works at Smithsonian American Art Museum. 1 work at Harvard Art Museum. 1 work at Smith College Museum of Art. 2 works at Delaware Art Museum. 7 more images at FAP.

Gubin, Selma, 1903-1974

Photograph of oil painting