Karen Laub-Novak

(1937-2009)

Karen Laub-Novak was an American sculptor, painter, printmaker, illustrator, and writer whose work combined literary, spiritual, and philosophical themes with a strong commitment to figurative and symbolic imagery. She studied at Carleton College and received an MFA in painting and printmaking from the State University of Iowa, where she studied printmaking with Mauricio Lasansky. She also studied painting with Oskar Kokoschka in Salzburg and poetry at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Laub-Novak worked across sculpture, painting, lithography, illustration, and public commissions. Her bronze sculptures included works depicting Nobel Peace Prize winner Norman Borlaug and Alexander Hamilton, while her prints and paintings frequently drew inspiration from literature and theology, including T. S. Eliot, Dante, Gerard Manley Hopkins, the Book of Genesis, The Apocalypse, and Rainer Maria Rilke’s Duino Elegies. She printed a number of these lithographic series at the Curwen Studio, collaborating within the Studio’s tradition of artist-led lithography. Her work was exhibited internationally and is represented in collections including Yale University, Stonehill College, and the estate of Cardinal Spellman. Alongside her studio practice, Laub-Novak taught and lectured widely at institutions including Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Georgetown, and the Aspen Institute.