Guide to the Lewis Rubenstein Papers, approximately 1950-1974

Collection Summary

Biographical Note

Lewis Rubenstein was born in 1908 in Buffalo, NY, the son of Emil and Hannah (Hirshman) Rubenstein. In 1930 he graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. in Fine Arts. He then spent two years as a Harvard Travelling Fellow in Europe, studying in France and Italy. From 1935 to 1938 he accepted commissions to paint frescoes murals in Harvard museums, as well as buildings in Detroit. In 1937 he began his long career as an art educator, joining the faculty of Vassar in 1939 as Instructor in Art. After a year's leave of absence to paint another commission, Rubenstein returned to Vassar in 1941. In 1942 he married Erica Beckh and took another leave of absence from Vassar to paint ship camouflage for the U.S. Navy during the Second World War. In 1946 he returned to Vassar as an Assistant Professor of Art. He became Associate Professor in 1951 and remained at the college until his retirement in 1974. As an artist, Rubenstein worked in a variety of media, from oil paint to "water-based techniques" such as ink, fresco, and watercolor (see "Introduction," Lewis Rubenstein: Retrospective Exhibition). He also continued to draw and sketch, producing during a series of sketched portraits of Vassar colleagues during faculty meetings. Rubenstein exhibited his work widely in galleries such as Harvard's Busch-Reisinger Museum, the Albany Institute of History and Art, the National Academy of Design, and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Lewis Rubenstein died in June 2003 at age 94 in Shelborne, Vermont.

Scope and Content Note

Sketches of faculty members and campus scenes and sketchbooks produced throughout Rubenstein's career at Vassar, and two copies of his film "Time Painting."

Access and Use

Encoding Information

Encoded by Mark Seidl, November 2011. Updated January 2012. Updated by Emma Gronbeck, August 2023.

Administrative Information