KUBINYI, KALMAN (29 June 1906-3 Sept. 1973) excelled in 2 artistic fields, moving from a reputation as Cleveland's preeminent printmaker to launch, in conjunction with his artist wife Doris Hall (5 Feb. 1907- ) a second career in enameling. A product of the Hungarian neighborhood around Buckeye Rd., Kubinyi graduated from South High School and the Cleveland School of Art (see CLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF ART). In the early 1930s he taught printmaking at CSA, the JOHN HUNTINGTON POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE, and the CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART. As founder of the Cleveland Print Makers Club (1930), he instituted the Print-a-Month Club to raise money for Depression-struck artists by selling limited-edition prints to subscribers. Together with Doris Hall, whom he married in 1933, Kubinyi also became involved in liberal politics, joining the COMMUNIST PARTY and the American Artists' Congress. In 1935 Kubinyi joined the WPA Federal Art Project in Cleveland as Print Supervisor, becoming the project's fourth and last General Supervisor in 1939. According to the historian of the local FAP, his tenure was "the most productive and memorable in project annals." During WORLD WAR II, while employed as a war worker at S.K. WELLMAN CO., Kubinyi installed a kiln in the basement of their LAKEWOOD home on West Clifton Blvd. Doris Hall used it to experiment with enamels, winning a first prize in the 1948 MAY SHOW. Kubinyi joined her in the venture, which prospered after they were discovered by gift shop owner H. George Caspari. The pair also contributed illustrations to the Labor Calendar sponsored by the CIO in 1946. Moving from Cleveland in 1950, they settled in Gloucester, Mass., where they became Art Directors for the Bettinger Corp. Kubinyi died in Stockbridge, Mass., survived by Hall and 2 children, Moisha Blechman and Laszlo Kubinyi.
Dancyger, Ruth. Kubinyi and Hall: Cleveland's Partners in Art (1988).