Kenneth Stubbs

Kenneth Stubbs
b. 1907, Ochlocknee, Georgia
d. 1967, Washington, D.C.

Kenneth Stubbs was a Modernist painter, and one of the preeminent American Cubists of the twentieth century. Born in a small-town, Stubbs was a largely autodidactic intellectual. In addition to his identity as a painter, Stubbs was also a tournament chess player and lover of mathematics.

In 1931, Stubbs visited the artist haven of Provincetown, MA, which ignited his passion for painting. He sought inspiration from artists who based their compositions on mathematical principles, such as the Cubists Pablo Picasso and Juan Gris, and the Italian Renaissance painter Piero della Francesca, whose works were guided by the golden ratio. As Stubbs described his own artistic philosophy, "The structure of my painting is based on tradition, while the content is based on ideas. Where these two things—tradition and idea—meet in the form of my painting, they become real."

Stubbs died in 1967 at the age of sixty. His works can be found in the permanent collections of the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.; the Provincetown Art Museum; and the University of Maryland Art Collection, College Park, MA.