Description:

Adolph Gottlieb
(American, 1903-1974)
Untitled
watercolor on paper
signed lower right.

Provenance: From a private collection, Indianapolis, IN. Previously: Delray Beach, FL estate through Joyce Smith Art and Antiques, Rhode Island.

Biography from the archives of AskArt: Born in New York City in 1903, Adolph Gottlieb was a founding member of The Ten, a group devoted to abstract art with whom he was active for about five years. He became a major exponent of Abstract Expressionism whose painting style is linked to Marc Rothko, Clyfford Still and Barnet Newman. A major theme in Gottlieb's painting is the challenge to humans to resolve dualities within the universe, the pressure of opposites: male and female, chaos and order, creation and destruction, order and chaos.

His career is described as having four phases: Pictographs (1940s), Grids and Imaginary Landscapes (1951 to 1957), Bursts (1957 to 1974) and Imaginary Landscapes (1960s). Although he lived primarily in New York City and was one of the few Abstract Expressionists born in that city, time spent in Arizona and Provincetown, Massachusetts had a marked influence on him.

Gottlieb studied at the Art Students League with Social Realists John Sloan and Robert Henri, but left abruptly in 1921 for Paris where he enrolled at the Academie de la Grand Chaumiere. Returning in 1923, he lived in New York and developed an interest in primitive sculpture.

He was a WPA mural artist and painted a mural in 1939 for the Post Office in Yerington, Nevada. From 1937 to 1939, he was in Tucson, Arizona, which influenced his subsequent "pictograph" series that occupied him the remainder of his life. The pictographs involved compartmentalized grid divisions of the canvas, primitive iconography and imaginary landscapes and were intended "to evoke mythological responses" (Baigell 141).

For him, the time in the Arizona desert was a time of transition from expressionist landscapes to highly personal still lifes of simple desert items such as gourds and peppers. From November 13, 1999 to January 9, 2000, the Tucson Museum of Art held an exhibition, Adolph Gottlieb and the West", sponsored by the Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation. The publicity described it as "dedicated to more than 50 works from the seminal Abstract Expressionists little-known 1937-1938 stay in the Arizona desert."

In the early 1950s, he designed a stained-glass exterior, 1,350 square feet, for the Milton Steinberg Memorial Center in New York City. His work was religious in tone but not specifically dogmatic.

Sources include:
Matthew Baigell, Dictionary of American Art
Peter Falk, Who Was Who in American Art
Jessie Benton Evans Gray, exhibition informaton of the Tucson Museum of Art
9 1/4" H x 12 1/2"W(image) 14"H x 17"W (frame)

    Dimensions:
  • 9 1/4" H x 12 1/2"W(image) 14"H x 17"W (frame)
  • Artist Name:
  • Adolph Gottlieb
  • Medium:
  • watercolor on paper

Accepted Forms of Payment:

American Express, Discover, MasterCard, Visa, Wire Transfer

Shipping

Professional in house shipping services are available. Shipping costs will include packaging, handling, and insurance. Shipping costs are in addition to the auction purchase amount. A low bid purchase price does not mean shipping costs will be any less. The minimum cost for shipping is $20.00. If you are not prepared to pay for our shipping, do not bid. Larger items may require a third-party shipper.

Successful bidders will receive a final invoice within 2-3 business days after the auction giving you payment and shipping details, if applicable, pertaining to the item(s) you have purchased. After payment is made your purchase will be shipped and tracking will be sent by email. Tracking information will need to be obtained by third party shipper for larger items purchased. It is the buyers responsibility to confirm shipping & billing address provided on invoices.

November 7, 2020 11:00 AM EST
Indianapolis, IN, US

Ripley Auctions

You agree to pay a buyer's premium of up to 25% and any applicable taxes and shipping.

View full terms and conditions

Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $99 $10
$100 $199 $20
$200 $499 $25
$500 $999 $50
$1,000 $2,999 $100
$3,000 $4,999 $200
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $29,999 $1,000
$30,000 + $2,500