Adolph Gottlieb posing with Petaloid (1968) at the New York Painting and Sculpture: 1940–1970 exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1969. Photographer: Arnold Newman.
In October 1969, New York Painting and Sculpture: 1940–1970 opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This landmark exhibition was the first show of Contemporary American Art at the Metropolitan Museum. Organized by Henry Geldzahler, Curator of Contemporary Arts, the exhibition kicked off the celebration of the Museum's centennial. Geldzahler's aim was "to choose works of quality and stature by those artists who have posited the major problems and solutions of our immediate tradition." Geldzahler took over half the museum, and more than 40 galleries, with 408 artworks from 43 artists. Nine paintings and two sculptures by Gottlieb were included in this exhibition.
We have collected archival documents, photographs, and reviews of this important exhibition of Contemporary American Art for a special walk-through.
A letter from Henry Geldzahler to Adolph Gottlieb about Gottlieb's inclusion in New York Painting and Sculpture: 1940–1970, March 21, 1969.
Installation photo from New York Painting and Sculpture: 1940 –1970 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 1969. Red, Blue, Yellow (1966), Una (1959), Sign (1962), Petaloid (1968), and Aureole (1959).
Contact sheets from the installation by Lippincott of Gottlieb's sculptures Petaloid (1968) and Wall (1969). Photograph by Lippincott Sculpture, 1969.
Exhibition catalogue cover for New York Painting and Sculpture: 1940 –1970.
An interior note from Henry Geldzahler to Adolph and Esther Gottlieb, October 1969.
"There was, during the thirties, a small group of Americans, which included Gorky, de Kooning, Gottlieb, Rothko, and Pollock, who resisted the chauvinism of the painters of the "American Scene" and embraced the essentially international, pre-Surrealist tradition of modern painting."
–William Rubin in the exhibition catalogue, p. 378
"Gottlieb wavers between the painterly and the non-painterly, and has done superb things in both manners."
–Clement Greenberg in the exhibition catalogue, p. 366
REVIEWS
Below is a selection of reviews of New York Painting and Sculpture: 1940–1970 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
"There are 43 artists represented...Geldzahler selected only 43 artists because he states, "That's it - everyone else is a period piece.""
–Barbara Goldsmith, "How Henry Made 43 Artists Immortal", New York Magazine, October 18, 1969
"The surprise was in a small adjoining room, where a beautifully chosen group of small, early works by both Motherwell and Gottlieb achieved a dimension of dignity that one would have thought impossible for smaller works in this exhibition; the room is one of the show's high moments."
–Philip Leider, “Modern American Art at the Met: “...as beautiful as any we are likely to see again.””, Artforum, December 1969
"Much of American art of the past 30 years has consisted in artists ringing changes on personally arrived-at formal images. Gottlieb's Burst series, often densely and complexly brushed on the canvas, can also be muted to the cool tenebrism of a painting such as Una."
–Henry Geldzahler quoted in Barbara Goldsmith, "How Henry Made 43 Artists Immortal", New York Magazine, October 18, 1969
Goldsmith, Barbara. ''How Henry Made 43 Artists Immortal'', New York Magazine, October 18, 1969
Goldsmith, Barbara. ''How Henry Made 43 Artists Immortal'', New York Magazine, October 18, 1969
Adolph Gottlieb, Una, 1959, oil on canvas, 108 x 90"
Leider, Philip. “Modern American Art At The Met: “...as beautiful as any we are likely to see again””, Artforum, December 1969.
Leider, Philip. ''Modern American Art At The Met: “...as beautiful as any we are likely to see again"", Artforum, December 1969
Adolph Gottlieb, Petaloid, 1968, painted cor-ten steel, 96 x 96 x 48", Collection of the Storm King Art Center
SELECTED GOTTLIEB ARTWORK FROM THE EXHIBITION
