Adriaan Lubbers

Born into an affluent family in Amsterdam in 1892, Adriaan Lubbers always desired to be an artist, but his father was against it. After getting a degree in mechanical engineering in Buenos Aires, he returned to Amsterdam in 1914, where he began a career as an artist. He travelled to New York for the first time in 1916 and held a series of odd jobs, such as a factory worker, herring peddler, mechanic and a cabaret singer in order to make ends meet. He stayed in New York until 1919, painting images of New York and its landmarks. He returned to Europe and along with artist Leo Gestel, traveled though Germany and Italy, adapting a Cubist style. He retuned to the United States from 1926-1928 and in 1932 lived in Paris, where he met Piet Mondriaan. Throughout the 1930s, Lubbers lived between the Netherlands and the United States. He came to Chicago in 1933 and painted images of the world’s fair, the “Century of Progress” exposition. Lubbers exhibited at Rockefeller Center in 1937. With the advent of war, he returned to the Netherlands. He founded a group in 1950 called “Art and Business”, which helped artists obtain jobs. Lubbers also created murals for the Holland American ship the Nieuw Amsterdam. In 1954, Lubbers died suddenly of a brain aneurysm, while preparing for an exhibition in New York. In 1957, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam had a retrospective of his work. In 1992, the Museum of the City of New York, presented an exhibition called, "Adriaan Lubbers in New York.