Wonderful, Whimsical Artist Alan Rubin Loved His Punjabs

Wonderful, Whimsical Artist Alan Rubin Loved His Punjabs

By Leonard Shapiro

There was sad news out of Delaplane in early November— widely-acclaimed artist Alan Rubin passed away at the age of 85.

Of course, anyone who ever had the great pleasure of knowing him would have expected him to probably make light of it. After all, he once told an interviewer, "artist is one of the few occupations where death is a good career move."

“You Talkin’ To Me?”

“Hangin’Out”

Alan grew up in Brooklyn as an only child and loved to draw as a youngster. He spent a career in Washington, D.C., eventually finding his forever home in Fauquier County in 1976.

He worked at the U. S. Geological Survey at the Natural History Museum. His first apartment was near The Phillips Collection where he absorbed the artwork of Goya, Renoir and Monet.

“Road to Enlightenment“

In 1967, he started the Biograph movie theatre in Georgetown with five friends, mostly screening artsy films, until it closed in 1997. At that point, he returned to art full time. His creativity was enviable, his sense of humor so obvious in his more whimsical works among his 500-plus paintings and countless “Punjab” cartoons.

One of Rubin’s cartoon ‘punjabs’: “Home on the Range”

Back Seat Driver

“Clarinet Riff “, 15” x 13”

Alan was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2008, but it hardly slowed him down. In an interview with Country ZEST a few years ago, he was asked how he would paint if his hand tremors became worse.

“If I get too shaky,” he said, “I’ll become an abstract expressionist.”

An exhibition of his work, The Fantastic Art of Alan Rubin, will run through Nov. 28 at the Booth & Nadler Gallery in Marshall at 8355 W. Main St.