Making Art In Challenging Times: Gottlieb's Pictographs

Adolph Gottlieb and Mark Rothko began regular discussions about their dissatisfaction with the art of their times around 1938 – that is, around the time of the Civil War in Spain. By 1941, these talks resulted in profound changes in the art they both made. brutal images from the real world were overtaking images in the arts. Neither the peaceful harmonies of the American scene nor the intellectual mysteries of Dali and the Surrealists could come to terms with the daily realities of the Second World War. 

Gottlieb began the paintings he labeled Pictographs that year, when the Great Depression had not yet ended and WWII was raging throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia, and was fast approaching the U.S. Pictographs were a huge leap for Gottlieb, 20 years into his career as a painter. At that moment, he abandoned his established methods for a new approach to art: “My whole conception is primitive – of a certain brutality. I think life is a mixture of brutality and beauty.”  

 

Adolph Gottlieb, Black Enigma, 1946, oil on canvas, 25 x 32 in.

 

The breakthroughs of each artist are significant to the development of what we think of as Abstract Expressionism. After they agreed to work from Classical themes, Gottlieb developed his Pictographs and Rothko originated what have been termed his mythic paintings. As Gottlieb described the situation, "We very quickly discovered that by a shift in subject matter we were getting into formal problems that we hadn't anticipated. Because obviously we weren't going to try to illustrate these themes in some sort of Renaissance style. We were exploring. So, suddenly we found there were formal problems that confronted us for which there was no precedent, and we were in an unknown territory.”

Adolph Gottlieb, Hands of Oedipus, 1943, oil on linen, 40 x 35 15/16 in.

Adolph Gottlieb, Eyes of Oedipus, 1941, oil on canvas, 32 1/4 x 25 in.

Gottlieb forged a visual synthesis of the emotional, cultural, and historic implications of the Oedipus myth and its uses and influence. Gottlieb and Rothko, in beginning new directions, returned to the sources of Western art. But they did so in a way that aimed to re-connect with what they saw as a more universal basis for visual art. The fundamental issue for these two artists, and one that became common among their colleagues, was a belief in the ability of visual images to convey meaning - to be emotionally charged and engaging - without the usual structure of narrative, whether literal or symbolic. As Gottlieb stated in a 1968 interview with Lawrence Alloway, "so if I made paintings in ’41, and in the ‘40s, that looked as if I didn’t know anything about art, it wasn’t really that I didn’t know, it was that I was struggling and trying to find something to say that was meaningful in a personal way, and also in sort of a fresh way, which wasn’t… which didn’t conform with the ideas of the establishment." 

 

Adolph Gottlieb, Pictograph - Symbol, 1942, oil on canvas, 54 x 40 in.

 

In the absence of narrative, the physical presence of the painting became a major determinant of how it was viewed. Gottlieb created his Pictographs to appear rough and unfinished. This was part of his concept of a painting as a dialogue with an individual - the understanding that the work is complete only with the participation of the viewer. The conceptual bases of these paintings - immediacy, non-narrative subject, intuitively derived composition, the importance of process, the notion of painting as object, and an acceptance of viewer as contributor, were shared by virtually all of the artists who became known as Abstract Expressionists. They take us, in Gottlieb’s words, “to the beginning of seeing.”

 

Adolph Gottlieb, Composition, 1945, oil, gouache, casein and tempera on linen, 29 13/16 x 35 7/8 in.

 

Gottlieb and Rothko were responding to a debate among American artists about meaning and abstraction. In their responses, given the very uncertain world in which they lived, they were also attempting, in a sense, to re-capture the thread of culture from the chaos of war. That is a large, perhaps even grandiose, goal. It was a big and important venture at a time when everything was in chaos and they had nothing to lose. But it is in keeping with the way American artists of that generation saw the potential of art. 

 

Adolph Gottlieb in his home/studio in Brooklyn with paintings including
Reflection (1941) and Pictograph (1942), 1942. Photographer: Aaron Siskind.

 

Artistic Ties: Adolph Gottlieb And Clement Greenberg

"...Gottlieb has done more than enough by now to assure his place in the art of our time ... his continuing development provides, to a superior degree, that excitement of which art as an unfolding activity, not as a finished result, is alone capable."

Clement Greenberg, from the catalogue of the Adolph Gottlieb retrospective at the Jewish Museum, New York, November and December 1957.

"As for my own work in the fifties, I guess Clement Greenberg did a lot to call attention to it.  He wrote a forward to the catalogue of my first retrospective in 1954, held a Bennington.  And again, he wrote one in 1958 when I had my show at the Jewish Museum in New York.  That, incidentally, was the first time I showed one of my ‘burst’ paintings, which Greenberg saw as a break toward a new direction, and which I did actually develop."

Adolph Gottlieb, in an interview from The Party’s Over Now by John Gruen, 1967.

 

Adolph and Esther Gottlieb and friends, including Clement Greenberg (kneeling). The artists (from right to left) Adolph Gottlieb, William Scott and Tony Caro in London, June 1959
"We went to London and had a wonderful time. As a matter of fact, I have some photographs—I think I showed you one with Clem. He was there with his wife. It’s a photograph of us in the garden with the painter, William Scott.Then we decide to go to Paris just for a weekend. (Paul) Jenkins was having a show, and we thought we’d go see it. Clem went with us to Paris to Paul’s opening, and then we flew home."
- Esther Gottlieb, in a 1975 interview with Stephen Pearson

 

Relationships between artists and critics are complex. The relationship between Adolph Gottlieb and Clement Greenberg, one of the most influential critical writers of his generation, was no different. Following are several items from our archive pointing to different moments in that relationship that lasted over 30 years. 

According to Gottlieb, he and Greenberg met in the mid-1940s through their mutual associations with Peggy Guggenheim.

The first item in our archive that references Clement Greenberg is his 1945 review in The Nation for an exhibition at Gallery 67 titled "A Problem for Critics" (shown above). 
Greenberg wrote another hopeful review of a solo exhibition that Gottlieb had at Jacques Seligmann Gallery in 1949:

"It is presumptuous to urge an artist on, and it is especially so when he is as talented as Gottlieb; but it is hard not to be impatient with a painter whose talent contains so much latent and unrealized force."

Greenberg later reviewed several of Gottlieb’s exhibitions and curated the first survey of Gottlieb’s paintings for Bennington College in 1954.

Exhibition brochure from a 1954 retrospective exhibition of Adolph Gottlieb’s paintings at the Bennington College Gallery. Text by Clement Greenberg.

By the 1950s, the Gottliebs and the Greenbergs had become personal friends.

 

The Gottliebs and friends (including the Greenbergs) in Provincetown, Massachusetts, September 7, 1959.
Adolph at lower left (in sunglasses), Esther in center back, Clement Greenberg at far right

 

As a wedding gift, Gottlieb gave Janice and Clement Greenberg’s his painting "Side Pull" (1956). Over the course of their friendship Gottlieb also gave Clement Greenberg a 1949 gouache and a linocut from the mid-1940s.

Adolph Gottlieb, Untitled (Pictograph), c. 1946, linocut, platemark: 11 13/16 in. x 14 3/4 in. (30 cm x 37.5 cm)
Now part of the Davis Museum Collection at Wellesley College.

Adolph Gottlieb, Untitled, 1949, crayon, ink, and pencil on paper, 10 x 12in.
part of the Clement Greenberg Collection at the Portland Art Museum

Installation view of the 1959 exhibition New American Paintings at MoMA, May 1959
On the left: Side Pull (1956), a wedding gift from Adolph Gottlieb to Janice and Clement Greenberg in 1958.

Their friendship became strained in 1963. Gottlieb, recovering from a heart attack, drafted an angry response to Greenberg’s recently published article “After Abstract Expressionism”.

In later years, these former friends were able to express some of the mutual respect they held for one another. In a 1967 interview with Colette Roberts, Gottlieb praises Greenberg’s unique insights:

"[Greenberg]’s always said the same thing; he always goes by his eye. He thinks he has a good eye and I agree with him. I think he has a marvelous eye...that's what distinguishes him from a lot of other critics who are blind. Some of them are blind but they have really good rhetoric. Their rhetoric is excellent, but they don't even look at paintings. But Greenberg really looks, and he can make very subtle perceptions... He’s one of the few people whose opinion, when he looks at a painting, it’s something that I respect. "

In the course of a talk in 1980, Greenberg similarly stated, "...if you don't understand Gottlieb, you don't understand Abstract Expressionism.."

A Look Back: "Adolph Gottlieb" At Paul Kantor Gallery

 

Adolph Gottlieb in Provincetown, 1956. Photo by Sy Katgoff
In Background: Heavy Sky (top), Unstill Life (bottom)

 

In Summer of 1959, Adolph Gottlieb showed an unusual group of works on paper at the Paul Kantor Gallery in Los Angeles. These had been painted in Provincetown in 1956 – a year that saw Gottlieb in one of his major transition periods. As was his practice when he came to a crossroads in his art, he created works that distilled his earlier ideas and images as he reached for a more challenging image to develop over the long-term.
 
1956 began as a year of major changes in Gottlieb’s art. The first painting he created that year was strikingly different from any of his previous works, and with each subsequent painting he tried something new. The thirty-five unique works on paper that Gottlieb created in 1956 form a coherent body of work on their own.

 

Heavy Sky, 1956, gouache and watercolor on paper, 22 1/4 x 31 in.

 

Unstill Life, 1956, gouache and ink on rag paper, 21 x 29 1/2 in.

Ovoid, 1956, gouache on paper, 20 3/4 x 29 3/8 in.

 

Open Forms, 1956, gouache on paper, 22 1/2 x 31 in.

 

Thrust ,1956, gouache on paper, 20 1/2 x 28 3/4 in.

 

Figuration, 1956, gouache and ink on paper, 29 1/4 x 20 3/4 in.

 

The unequalled volume of, and the variations among, these works on paper only underscore how intensely Gottlieb was exploring new ways to present his art.

 
 

Excerpts from "Adolph Gottlieb" exhibition catalogue at Paul Kantor Gallery.

 
 

from the archives:
Left: Adolph Gottlieb's handwritten proposed exhibition checklist
right: final exhibition catalogue checklist 

A comment he made to Seldman Rodman in a conversation from 1956/7 sums up Gottlieb’s thoughts:

Painting is self-discovery. You arrive at the image through the act of painting. As in a dream--which is without words or sounds either.

An Inside Look: Wall 1969, Part 2

In 1990, the Gottlieb Foundation gifted WALL to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. At the time, this sculpture had spent most of its 20-year existence on the lawn of the Gottlieb's East Hampton home where it was subject to weathering and in need of conservation to reverse years of accumulated salt, contaminants, unfiltered sunlight, and damage from wind-blown sand.

WALL on the lawn in East Hampton, 1980

Comprehensive research commenced in late 2016 and continued through spring of 2019, which is when the process of conserving the work actually began. Robert Price, Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in the National Gallery's Division of Conservation, spearheaded this project.

Research included dismantling WALL in order to see the extent of damage from the outdoor elements. Here it is disassembled in the sculpture conservation lab of the National Gallery before conservation:

Price made several visits to the Foundation to examine other works by Adolph Gottlieb, in addition to archival records and samples of Gottlieb's original paints and tools. By doing so, he was able to compare how paint was applied to determine the original paint surface and technique used to create WALL. His research showed that Gottlieb had this sculpture spray-painted instead of using a brush as he had employed in his smaller sculptures, and Price was able to utilize this process in conserving WALL.

Robert Price in the conservation studio

To offer a better sense of how he approached this project and what he learned in the process, we sent Price some questions about his experience. Here are his responses:

How did you go about conducting research for this project? Where did you start?
The starting point for my research was the object itself – documenting its surfaces, studying what was known about its installation history, studying its conservation history, and taking small samples from the existing paint surfaces to learn more about its fabrication. At the same time, I delved into Gottlieb’s career as a painter – studying his styles and transitions, as well as his philosophy and the aesthetic principles that guided his work. From there, I sought to gather as much information as possible about Gottlieb’s sculptures – the numerous versions of Wall, in particular – and traveled to see them for myself. The Gottlieb Foundation was an invaluable resource throughout this process. In addition to visually documenting these small scale works, I also utilized a portable spectrophotometer and gloss meter to gather numerical data on the painted surfaces. Having a data driven method for comparing one sculpture to the next in terms of color allowed for a more nuanced and objective understanding of Gottlieb’s pallet and the variations present across versions. Ultimately, this data was also critical to developing a new paint system for the large scale version of Wall. 

What is the most surprising thing you discovered while restoring this work?
I was most surprised by the amount of variation present across the set of small scale versions of Wall. Not only are there minor differences in color and gloss, the individual sections also exhibit slight variations from version to version. Although they were all made using the same template, the method of tracing the shape onto the steel or aluminum, as well as the method of cutting and finishing the edges, introduced opportunities for irregularity – something that I think Gottlieb was aware of and accepted. Considering the yellow disks, one can clearly see that some versions precisely follow the contours of the template while others deviate from the template and are more rounded. 
 
What was the biggest challenge in the conservation of this work?
The biggest challenge of this conservation treatment, aside from the decision making process regarding the method of paint application and visual characteristics of the paint itself, was working with the scale and weight of the individual elements of the sculpture and the physical challenges related to the painting process. Moving the sections of the sculpture as the treatment progressed through sanding, priming and top coating was a logistical challenge, but producing a uniform matte paint surface across such large areas was an even greater challenge. The entire process required extensive preparation and forethought. Every parameter – from the settings of the spray gun, to the paint mixture and even the distance between the spray gun and the object surface - had to be consistent in order to produce the smooth surface texture that can be seen on the sculpture today.

Photos of the installation of WALL at the National Gallery, Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art

How closely do you take into consideration "original intent" when doing conservation work? What do you decide to leave behind as part of the history of the sculpture, separate from the artist?
The original intent, or ‘artist’s intent’ is one of the most important guiding principles behind any conservation treatment, although this information is not always available. When necessary, conservators attempt to reconstruct this information using scientific research, artist statements, and examination of works from a similar time period. In the case of Wall, Gottlieb did not write extensively about his sculptures, or give any statements as to how he wanted them to appear. Fortunately, Gottlieb produced several small scale versions of Wall, the paint surfaces of which were in good condition and served as reference points for Gottlieb’s vision. At the same time, however, it could not be assumed that the small scale versions – painted by Gottlieb himself – precisely represented Gottlieb’s intentions for the large scale version. Deliberations with other conservators, curators, and with Sanford Hirsch [Executive Director of the Gottlieb Foundation] were also key to the decision making process, not only for how to repaint, but initially, if the sculpture should be repainted at all. Combining the information collected from the small scale versions with technical study of the existing paint surfaces of the large scale version, plus multiple conversations with all the various stakeholders gave us the confidence to move forward with the treatment. 

What did you learn about Gottlieb as an artist from your conservation efforts on his sculpture?
Studying and conserving the large scale version of Wall deepened my understanding of Gottlieb’s commitment to what I see as a ‘hand-made’ aesthetic that welcomes irregularity and imperfection, and exists in opposition to mass production and ‘industrial’ uniformity. The small scale, hand-painted versions of Wall certainly demonstrate this concept, but it is clear to me that Gottlieb thought about how he could translate this aesthetic to a scaled up version constructed and painted by a fabrication team. Although the surfaces do not exhibit his characteristic brushwork, Gottlieb decided to alter the outer edge of the large black disk, introducing new undulations and ‘cuts’ that are not present in the small scale versions. I can only speculate, but it would seem to me that this exaggeration was possibly a reaction to a concern that the more subtle irregularities would be less perceptible with an increase in scale. 

Did this experience offer you insight on the relationship between Gottlieb's paintings and sculptures?
Gottlieb has mentioned that someone once looked at his sculptures and remarked “it does not look like sculpture; it looks like your paintings in three dimensions”. After having worked with Wall for so long, and now having the pleasure of viewing it in a conserved state, I find myself coming back to this statement. Viewing Wall in the round creates an experience whereby the forms of the sculpture constantly shift and interact with each other in different ways – sometimes collapsing in on themselves and other times telescoping outwards. In this sense, Wall reveals itself to the viewer as many different compositions in one. 
In another sense, I see Wall as a synthesis or culmination of all of the concepts and ideas that Gottlieb explored throughout his career as a painter – ‘the simple expression of complex thought’ through a balance of color and simple forms, as well as the spatial relationship between viewer and image. While Wall simultaneously references Gottlieb’s Imaginary Landscapes and his Burst paintings, the third dimension allowed Gottlieb to explore the concept of space in a completely new way, that not only relies on the scale of the work in relation to the viewer, but it’s position as well.

Photo of Conservator Robert Price to the right of WALL, installed in the East Wing at the National Gallery.

To read part 1, which covers the history of WALL as it was developed, constructed, and evolved, click here.

A Look Back: Evolution Of An Exhibition Poster

 

On February 14th, 1968, a major exhibition of Adolph Gottlieb's paintings organized jointly by the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum opens at both museums in New York City simultaneously – the first and only time this has occurred.

Below are some different ideas Gottlieb considered for a poster for the exhibition. We don't know if he had a poster or book cover in mind, but it's interesting to see his different takes on creating a public image for the exhibition. Each of these studies is fully developed, and as a group they are important artifacts from this exhibition and this period of his career. We hope you enjoy!

Untitled, c. 1968, acrylic on paper, 9 1/2 x 9"

Untitled, c. 1968, acrylic on paper, 9 1/2 x 9"

Untitled, c. 1968, acrylic on paper, 9 1/2 x 9"

Untitled, c. 1968, acrylic on paper, 9 1/2 x 9"

Untitled, c. 1968, acrylic on paper, 9 1/2 x 9"

Untitled, c. 1968, acrylic on paper, 9 1/2 x 9"

Untitled, c. 1968, acrylic on paper, 9 1/2 x 9"

Finally, Gottlieb settled on the following design for the poster (top)
and an advertisement to run on New York City buses (below).

 
 
 

Foundation Highlight: Artists' Fellowship Award Dinner

 

Artists Fellowship 2019 Honorees: Artists Eric Fischl and April Gornik, and Executive Director
Sanford Hirsch representing the Gottlieb Foundation

On October 28th, the Artists' Fellowship, Inc. honored the Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation by presenting the Gari Melchers award for over forty years of service and assistance to the artist community.

Members of the staff and board of directors of the Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation attended the Artists' Fellowship annual awards dinner to be part of the award ceremony.

Please enjoy the following photos from the evening! Event photography by Philippe Bouquet.

Executive Director Sanford Hirsch delivering the acceptance speech (excerpt below)

"The Foundation continues the Gottlieb’s legacy of giving to individual artists. Our guiding principle has always been to approach how we operate and how we make awards based on the realities of how artists live their lives.

The work that we do is very rewarding, and the best reward for us is to hear from artists that we have made a difference in their lives. It is particularly rewarding when we are able to help out in times of special need, and when we can provide the means for an individual artist to get through a difficult time and continue his or her important work. 

So, for us to receive this recognition from an artists’ group that originated over a hundred years before the Gottlieb Foundation and which also has providing assistance to individual artists as one of its purposes, is a tremendous honor and one we deeply appreciate – as fellow artists and as organizations that recognize the importance of artists’ work and the importance of a supportive community of artists. On behalf of my colleagues and myself, thank you Artists Fellowship, for this medal and for the honor that it represents."

From front left, clockwise: David Novros, Christina Hunter, Paul Hunter, Doug Flamm, Nancy Litwin (Gottlieb Foundation Art Collection Manager), Lynda Benglis (artist and Gottlieb Foundation board member), Joanna Pousette-Dart, Sarita Dubin

From front left, clockwise: Shaina Larrivee, Hanne Tierney, Donn Zaretsky, Lisa Zaretsky, Melissa Joseph (Gottlieb Foundation Grants Manager), Amy Schichtel, Grace Walsh (Gottlieb Foundation Archive Assistant), Charlotta Kotik (curator and Gottlieb Foundation board member), Gordon Marsh (Gottlieb Foundation board member), Charles Duncan.

Left to right: Lilly Wei (Curator/Critic and Gottlieb Foundation board member), Sanford Hirsch, Douglas Baxter, and Deborah Beblo

Richard Rapaport and Brooke Kamin Rapaport (Curator and Gottlieb Foundation board member)

Lynda Benglis and Sanford Hirsch

Melissa Joseph (Grants Manager) and Grace Walsh (Archive Assistant)

Gottlieb Foundation board member and artist Robert Mangold was not able to attend the event.

Click here for more information about the Artists Fellowship Inc. Annual Awards Dinner.
And click here for more information about the Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation.

 

An Inside Look: The Gottliebs in East Hampton

 

In 1960 Adolph and Esther Gottlieb purchased a home in East Hampton, NY, adjacent to a potato field and about 100 yards from the Atlantic Ocean. Adolph had the old carriage house on the property turned to face due north and replaced the upper half of the north wall with windows to create his painting studio. The Gottliebs eventually did extensive renovations to the house that became their refuge from the city and a place to paint, sail, relax, and entertain friends. Adolph and Esther became part of the growing artist community East End of Long Island that included many old and new friends such as James and Charlotte Brooks, Willem de Kooning, Lee Krasner, Ray Parker, Harold Rosenberg, Esteban Vicente, Hedda Sterne, Saul Steinberg, and more.

We went through our archives and dug out the best photos of the Gottliebs' home and Adolph's studio. Enjoy!

Esther and Adolph Gottlieb in the foyer of their East Hampton home. Photo c. 1964 by John Waggaman

East Hampton house exterior. Photo c. by John Waggaman c. 1964.

Artists on the beach in East Hampton. Gottlieb pictured sitting in front row, second from the right. Photo by Hans Namuth, 1962.

Interior of East Hampton studio with Orb (1964). Photo c. 1964 by John Waggaman.

East Hampton studio with Petaloid (1968). Photo from summer 1971 by Hermann Neumann.

Adolph in front of his studio. Photo c. 1964 by John Waggaman

Foyer of East Hampton house, including the sculpture Tilted Wall (1968) below the print Untitled (from Prints for Phoenix House) (1972), and paintings at right Red Ground (1961) visible in mirror reflection, Yellow (1960) at far right in adjacent room. Photo c. 1972 by Bud Waintrob

Interior of East Hampton house living room with Roman Three #2 (1963) on far wall, and two works on paper: Yellow and Sand (both 1960) above the fireplace. Photo c. 1964 by John Waggaman

Interior of East Hampton house living room with Red and Green (1961) to the left, and Roman Two (1961) on far wall. Photo c. 1964 By John Waggaman

 

A Closer Look: Adolph Gottlieb's Painted Postcards

Jean-Antoine Watteau, Assemblee dans un Parc, 1963, acrylic on postcard, 3 1/2 x 5”

Statue Chypriote, 1963, acrylic on postcard, 5 1/2 x 3 1/2 “

In the winter of 1962, while Adolph and Esther Gottlieb were at their home in East Hampton, Adolph suffered a heart attack. The two stayed in East Hampton for the rest of the winter while Gottlieb recovered. It wasn't until the Spring that Gottlieb was able to return to painting with the help of his wife. As Esther Gottlieb recounts in an 1975 interview,

"On the one trip I made to New York in the Spring of ’63, I returned with some post cards. These were reproductions of paintings in various museums. He was feeling somewhat better, but he couldn’t go up and down the stairs at that point. He was going down only once a day. Then we decided to make a studio out of the guest room which faces north. We asked Adolph which easels he wanted and which brushes. He gave me a list of the material, but he hadn’t done any work yet. I brought the postcards—I thought he might enjoy looking at them, so he said, “Oh, that’s fine.” He looked at them and said, “I think I’ll do some painting.” I went to the market, and when I came back he had these postcards tacked up all over the studio. He had been painting over them—painting his image over the ones he particularly liked. Then he began working with acrylic on paper."

Francois Clovet, “Charles IX - Roi de France”, 1963, acrylic on postcard, no dims.

Thomas Gainsborough, “Mrs. Elliot”, 1963, acrylic on postcard, no dims

Jean-Antoine Watteau, “La Finette”, 1963, acrylic on postcard, no dims.

All artwork ©Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation/Licensed by ARS, NY, NY

Through the years, Gottlieb gave away several of his painted postcards to friends and family. The three above, originally gifted to Joe and Olga Hirshhorn, are now part of the permanent collection at the Baker Museum, in Florida.

From the Archive: A Selection from Adolph Gottlieb's Library

In September of 1921, Adolph Gottlieb left the Art Students League of New York and travelled to Europe. He was 17 years old at the time. He spent his first 6 months abroad in Paris, visiting the Louvre everyday and auditing classes at L'Academie de la Grande Chaumiere. Then, until his return to America in early 1924, Gottlieb toured Germany, Austria, and other countries in central Europe, visiting local museums and art galleries along the way.

Below is a selection of artists' books he brought back from Europe, many from a German series entitled Junge Kunst ("Young Artists"). These books tell a story of Gottlieb exploring artistic influences from a very young age, ranging from masters of the Renaissance to contemporaries of the time period. This collection of books that he brought back from Europe in the 1920s indicates an intellectual interest that began early and grew with Gottlieb as he became part of a new generation of American artists.

Book covers shown here:
Langewiesche, Karl Robert. Michelangelo, Leipzig: Konigstein Verlag, 1925
Schürer, Oskar. Pablo Picasso, Leipzig: Klinkhardt & Biermann, 1927
Waldman, Emil. Honore Daumier, Leipzig: Verlag Von E. A. Seemann, 1923
Neumann, Carl. Rembrandt, Munich: Piper, 1921
Henry, Daniel. Der Weg Zum Kubismus (The Way to Cubism), Munich: Delphin-Verlag, 1920
Wolfradt, Willi. Otto Dix, Leipzig: Klinkhardt & Biermann, 1924
Kolle, Helmud. Henri Rousseau, Leipzig: Klinkhardt & Biermann, 1922
Burger, Fritz. Cezanne und Hodler: Eifuehrung in Die Probleme Der Malerei Gegenwart (Introduction to the Problems of Contemporary Painting), Munich: Delphia Verlag, 1920 [Title page shown instead of front cover]
Mayer, August. El Greco, Munich: Delphia Verlage, 1916

An Inside Look: The Making of an Exhibition

While “Adolph Gottlieb: Classic Paintings” is on view, we thought we would extend a behind-the-scenes look at the development of this exhibition.

Rigging paintings out the window of the Gottlieb Foundation in preparation for the exhibition.

The Gottlieb Foundation and The Pace Gallery worked together over the past year-and-a-half to curate a thoughtful selection of significant Adolph Gottlieb paintings. The result of our efforts is the exhibition “Adolph Gottlieb: Classic Paintings” on view at The Pace Gallery, 510 West 25th Street in New York City until April 13th.  The exhibition features 20 large- and small-scale paintings with a focus on the “Burst” and “Imaginary Landscape” images. These paintings, spanning 1955 to 1974, celebrate Gottlieb's formal accomplishments and highlight the continuing relevance of Gottlieb's artistic contributions. Many works in this show are on loan from major institutions, including the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, the Blanton Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Princeton University Art Museum, the Jewish Museum, the Toledo Museum of Art, the Walker Art Center, the Wadsworth Atheneum, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. For some paintings, this exhibition marks their first return to New York City in decades.

Dr. Kent Minturn and Gottlieb Foundation Executive Director Sanford Hirsch, being filmed
Shown in the background, L to R:
Groundscape, 1956, oil on canvas, 84 x 144"
Green Dream, 1967, acrylic on paper, 24 x 19"
Burst (First State), 1974, acrylic on paper, 23 7/8 x 18"
©Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation/Licensed by ARS, NY, NY

The full exhibition video can be viewed here.

Installation view showing the installation plan (foreground) and the painting Lake (1971) acrylic on canvas, 90 x 108”.

“Adolph Gottlieb: Classic Paintings” Exhibition Catalogs, courtesy of the Pace Gallery

The exhibition is accompanied by a fully-illustrated catalogue including an essay titled "Gottlieb's Balancing Act," by Dr. Kent Minturn, Visiting Assistant Professor of Fine Arts at NYU's Institute of Fine Arts, as well an exhibition video produced by The Pace Gallery.

We are also pleased to announce an upcoming panel on Adolph Gottlieb and his paintings at the Pace Gallery on April 8th. Panelists include Dr. Kent Minturn, Sanford Hirsch, Karen Wilkin, Jeffrey Katzin, and will be moderated by Phyllis Tuchman. Doors open at 6 PM, with the session beginning at 6:30. Hope to see you there!

For more information about the exhibition, the panel, or to see the exhibition video, click here.

Stories from the Director: Adolph Gottlieb's First Printing Press

The story Esther Gottlieb told me about Adolph’s first press is this: shortly after they moved to Brooklyn Heights, which was in 1932, there were a number of secondhand stores on Atlantic Avenue. Adolph and Esther lived on State Street, Atlantic Avenue was the next block. Adolph went into one of the secondhand stores one day and saw an etching press for sale, and, bear in mind this was the height of the Great Depression so everything was cheap. He asked the store owner about the press. Not indicating what it was, he said ‘How much do you want for this machine?’ and the store owner replied saying ‘oh you wouldn’t be interested in that. That’s a machine for pleating skirts.’

And Adolph said, ‘well ok that’s an odd thing but sure I am interested. How much?” And they agreed on a price and he brought it home. He did not have a studio at that time; he was working out of his apartment. He took the press apart, cleaned up the parts, reassembled it as a press, and began to do prints, which he hadn’t done on a regular basis prior to that. But he must have had some knowledge of processes because we have an example from 1933, which we refer to as the ”Six Artist Print”.

Adolph Gottlieb, Six Artists Etching, 1933 – 1974, etching on wove paper, image size = 5 3/4 x 7 3/4" sheet size = 9 3/4 x 10 5/8”
©Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation/Licensed by ARS, NY, NY

This is an interesting object because there are six artists who participated in making drawings on one etching plate, each artist doing a portrait of another. The artists involved are Adolph Gottlieb, Esther Gottlieb, David Smith, Dorothy Dehner (who was married to Smith at the time), Edgar Levy and Lucille Corcos, who were also husband-and-wife. So, three husband-and-wife artist couples doing portraits of one another.  This is what people would do for entertainment in the pre-internet, pre-tv era when nobody had the ten cents to go to the movies.

It’s a wonderful document, and, as you can see we have the records that show the one example that was run in 1933 was run on Adolph’s press. So that helps us document the time. This is the earliest known print that we have and my assumption is, given that this would have taken some knowledge of rudimentary technique, that he probably had taken some printing classes either at the Art Students’ League or, more likely, at an organization called the Educational Alliance where he also took a few classes in the early 1920s.

The Educational Alliance was on the Lower East Side, and it was primarily to help Eastern European Jewish immigrants learn skills and integrate into the mainstream. They had a whole art school, and I know that they taught printing at the Educational Alliance. It’s quite possible that’s where Adolph picked up the technique. It’s also possible that Edgar Levy, who is one of the artists involved in that etching, and who had a printmaking practice at the time, may have shown Adolph at least some of the techniques that he used

Adolph went on from that into the 40s, and through the late 40s, making several prints, several kinds of prints; a lot of them on that etching press, a lot of them being unique and unusual kinds of works. Many of the preliminary ideas of what became his pictographs were tried on some of those etching plates early on. There’s a print called Montage which is interesting because it’s based on an earlier print that he made. The original image is of a compartmented box with objects that he found on a beach sitting in the different sections of the box. This image creates an intermediate stage prior to the pictographs, and he refers to those images in later interviews as one of the sources for using the grid in the Pictographs.

Left: Adolph Gottlieb, Untitled (Fish & Anchor), c. 1938, etching on paper, 3 7/8 x 2 3/4“
Right: Adolph Gottlieb, Untitled (Seaside Still Life), c. 1940, Etching and aquatint on cream wove paper, 6 x 7 5/8”

Adolph Gottlieb, Montage, c.1944, Etching and coarse-grained aquatint on cream wove paper, 6 x 7 5/8"
©Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation/Licensed by ARS, NY, NY

What’s interesting about the print that I’m thinking of is he took the plate on which he had the image of one of those box still lifes and balanced a smaller plate with a different image approximately where one section of the box appeared.  He then ran the two plates through the press together, actually creating a physical pictograph out of those two images on the sheet.

The press was located in the Gottlieb’s apartment. And the norm for them at that time, when Esther was teaching school, was that they would get up, have breakfast, Esther would go to teach her classes, Adolph would clear the kitchen and set up the printing press in the kitchen.

That’s where the printing was done. That’s my story.

A Look Back: "Gottlieb: Sculpture", 1970

“I enjoy doing sculpture of course, but the special bang I get is having the feeling that I am a young sculptor, just beginning, which is a nice feeling for an old painter like me.”

– Adolph Gottlieb in Art Now: New York, vol. 1, no. 7, New York, September 1969

While primarily known as a painter, Adolph Gottlieb ventured into making sculpture at the age of 64. For a short period between 1967 and 1969, Gottlieb experimented with translating his visual ideas into sculpture. He executed ten small, painted cardboard maquettes; a group of twelve painted steel or aluminum sculptures between 23 and 45 inches long; three outdoor sculptures of about 10 feet in length; and a few unique works in bronze, brass, and painted wood.

“Gottlieb: Sculpture” was an exhibition that took place at the University of Maryland Art Gallery in 1970. This show was Adolph Gottlieb’s first sculpture exhibition and featured seven of his sculptural works. Here we look back and remember Gottlieb’s exploration of color and form in real space.