Adolph Gottlieb

• Born: March 14, 1903
• Birthplace: New York, New York
• Died: March 4, 1974
• Place of death: New York, New York

Artist

Gottlieb, an artist of the New York School of abstract expressionism, did groundbreaking work in the fields of pictograph, imaginary landscape, and burst paintings.

Early Life

Adolph Gottlieb (AY-dolf GOT-leeb) was born to Emil and Elsie Gottlieb in New York City on March 14, 1903. The family later had two daughters, Eda and Rhoda. Gottlieb’s father hoped his son would join him in his stationery business, but early in life Gottlieb developed a fascination with painting. He left high school at sixteen, worked for his father during the day, and spent his evenings studying at the Art Students League, where he took classes with John Sloan and attended lectures by Robert Henri. At seventeen, Gottlieb earned passage to Europe by working on a steamer. He spent six months in Paris, where he took sketch classes at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and visited the Louvre to study the artwork of the masters. He then spent a year visiting the major museums of Berlin, Munich, Dresden, Vienna, and Prague. He was introduced to European avant-garde art movements, including fauvism and cubism. When he returned to New York in 1921, he and his friend Barnett Newman spent time at New York’s galleries and museums. At the encouragement of his family, Gottlieb finished high school, after which he studied at Parsons School of Design, the Art Students League, Cooper Union, and the Education Alliance Art School. During the 1920’s, he began exhibiting paintings at the Opportunity Gallery, while supporting himself by sign painting and by teaching art at settlement houses and summer camps. Although he was well respected by other artists, teaching became his main means of support during the 1930’s.

Life’s Work

Gottlieb married Esther Dick on June 12, 1932. That same year he was awarded a solo exhibit at New York’s Dudensing Galleries. In 1935, he became a founding member of The Ten, a group of artists involved in expressionist and abstract painting. Although he was an easel painter for the Works Projects Administration (WPA), his work turned away from social themes with his growing interest in primitive art forms He resigned from the WPA in 1937 when his wife was advised to move to a dry climate for her health. They spent eight months in the desert near Tucson, Arizona. Desert moods and Western expanses influenced his later surrealist imagery. His commissioned post office mural in Yerrington, Nevada, was dedicated in 1941, the year he began to paint pictographs, for which he developed grid compartments employing primitive symbols, man-made objects, and nature images.

In 1951, he began his imaginary landscape series, in which shapes acquired meaning as pure form. In 1956, he began his burst series, in which the picture plane was divided into two horizontal zones—one having a bright geometric form and the other having an irregular set of brush strokes—revealing what Gottlieb considered life’s contradictions, order and chaos. Although he will always be known as a leading abstract expressionist, Gottlieb’s use of color in his burst series granted him recognition as one of the first color field painters and a forerunner of lyrical abstraction.

Gottlieb was the first American to win the Gran Premio at the Bienal de São Paolo in 1963. His works were exhibited extensively and acquired by museums in the United States and overseas. A major retrospective of his work organized jointly by the Whitney and Guggenheim Museums opened at both museums on February 14, 1968. When a fire destroyed his studio, he established a new studio and returned to printmaking, painting, and sculpture. Gottlieb suffered a stroke in 1971, but he continued to paint while in a wheelchair. He worked on a series of monotypes until two weeks before his death on March 4, 1974.

Significance

Gottlieb was a pioneer in the abstract expressionist movement, also known as the New York School. His art drew its inspiration from primitive art forms, Greek mythology, and surrealism. He sought to express images of universal meaning that would transcend concepts of space, time, and language, and they eventually evolved into large-scale abstractions. He realized that his visualization of these abstract forms required an abstract painting and sculptural environment in which to exist. As a central figure of abstract expressionism, he worked closely with other artists seeking new means of visual expression.

Bibliography

Alloway, Lawrence. The Pictographs of Adolph Gottlieb. New York: Hudson Hills Press in association with Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation, 1964. Contains essays and information concerning Gottlieb’s pictograph paintings.

Doty, Robert, and Diane Waldman Doty. The Art of Adolph Gottlieb. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1968. This is a 121-page in-depth catalog of Gottlieb’s art. It explains that he adopted the term pictograph to describe a series of his paintings because he scorned the then-accepted ideas of what art and painting should be.

Gottlieb, Adolph. Adolph Gottlieb: Paintings, 1921-1956. Omaha, Nebr.: Joslyn Art Museum, 1980. The artist describes his work in his own words.

Gottlieb, Adolph, and William Robinson. Adolph Gottlieb: Vertical Moves. New York: Pace Wildenstein, 2002. Essays and quotations in which the artist explains his work.

Herskovic, Marika. “Adolph Gottlieb.” In American Abstract Expressionism of the 1950’s. New York: New York School Press, 2003. Arranged alphabetically, this is an illustrated survey of abstract expressionism, including artists’ statements, artwork, and artists’ biographies.