David K. Rubins

Seated Nude, modeled about 1941

bronze

19 ¼ inches high

Delavan Smith Fund

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David Rubins was born in Minneapolis and received his education at Dartmouth College.  He then traveled to Europe to continue his studies at the Ecole des Beaux Arts and Académie Julian.  Rubins was also a fellow in sculpture at the American Academy in Rome.  His sculpture was primarily figurative and included a monument of Abraham Lincoln as a young man for the Indiana State Capitol and the bronze cherub that was on the clock during Christmas season at L. S. Ayres and Company in downtown Indianapolis. Rubins is also known for his busts of prominent people, including the architect Evans Woolen, President William Henry Harrison and Indianapolis Governor Henry Schricker.  Rubins taught sculpture and anatomy at the Herron School of Art in Indianapolis.

In his figural sculpture, Rubins usually sought harmonious proportions and a pensive quality, preferring rounded, ideal forms to the angular or distorted.  The balance and feminine grace of this bronze figure recall early twentieth-century French sculpture by artists such as Aristide Mailllol. 

Reference

David K. Rubins.  The Human Figure: An Anatomy for Artists, New York: Penquin Group, 1975. ISBN-13: 978-0140042436