Lebduska, Lawrence Henry (1894-1966)
Born in Baltimore to Czech parents, Lebduska trained to be a stained glass artist like his father, before immigrating to the US in 1912. Initially he worked as a painter of interior murals but by the late 1920s was exhibiting his own paintings. The label of Lebduska as a “primitive” akin to Henri Rousseau initially gained him attention during the 1930s and early 1940s; reportedly his paintings inspired Abby Aldrich Rockefeller to begin assembling her large collection of folk art. But as a 1941 “Modern Primitives” show at MoMA illustrates, it was a constrictive rubric: “All share the common denominator of Western culture at its most democratic level and all express the straightforward, innocent and convincing vision of the common man, ignorant of art or unaffected by it” (Barr). With a change in art world fashions Lebduska’s work fell out of favor during the later 1940s and ‘50s, and he descended into poverty and alcoholism. In the 1960s an art dealer named Eva Lee, impressed by one of his paintings, sought out Lebduska and helped him recover his health. He resumed painting until his death in 1966 with renewed public appreciation. 2 works at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. 1 work at Albright-Knox Art Gallery. 3 works at Wadsworth Atheneum. 9 more images at FAP.
Works in the New Deal Collection at GVCA by Lawrence Lebduska:
