Louis Leon Ribak

Who was Louis Leon Ribak?

Louis Leon Ribak was an American social realist and abstractionist painter. Born in Ruzhany, Ribak emigrated to New York at the age of ten with his family. He attended Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts for a year in 1920, and the Art Students League of New York in 1922.

He served in the military for two years during the Second World War and was discharged because of asthma. Seeking a healthier climate, Ribak and his wife Beatrice Mandelman, also an artist, moved to Taos, New Mexico in 1944. At this point, Ribak changed to a more non-objective style and brighter color palette. He returned to New York for several years, but moved back to Taos permanently in 1953. Ribak died in Taos in 1979.