Alan Rubin

Alan Rubin was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. After high school he went on to study architecture and was accepted at the Pratt Institute. At the end of his freshman year Alan shared, “I realized I was Frank Lloyd Wrong and transferred to Brooklyn College”. He graduated with a degree in Geology and a minor in Art.  

He moved to Washington D.C. to work for the U. S. Geological Survey at the Natural History Museum.  Alan found himself visiting art galleries on his lunch breaks and spending weekends at The Phillips where he lived right across the street.  He enrolled in GWU graduate school and attended night classes for five years. A career in Government was not for Alan and four film buff friends, so in 1967 they started the Biograph Theatre in Georgetown. “None of us had ever run a business before and there was initially a ‘Let’s put on a show in the barn’ feel to it. It was successful right from the start and within a year or so we all quit our jobs and went into show business”. After buying a horse for his wife Susan in 1976, they moved into a 1905 Victorian-style farmhouse in Delaplane, VA which would be their forever home.

In 1990, Alan and Susan went on vacation to France. His old friend and GWU art professor, Bill Woodward, had just finished teaching a painting course in Brittany. He encouraged Alan to start painting again. They painted plein air most days and he loved it—he found his third career. When he got home, he converted his old barn turned home movie theatre into an artist’s studio and started painting on weekends. After the Biograph closed in 1996, Alan still had big plans. “When we closed, I removed the letters from the building and rearranged them into a new sign: BIG ART HOPE. It hangs in my studio—I think this will be my last career.” Alan passed away in November of last year after fighting Parkinson’s Disease. His last wishes were for his art to be shared with the world.