Adolph Gottlieb (1903-1974)

Abstract Expressionist painter Adolph Gottlieb was born in New York in 1903. After leaving high school in 1919 he enrolled in the Arts students League where he studied painting under John Sloan and attended the lectures of Robert Henri. He finished high school in 1923 and went on to study at Parsons School of Design, The Art Students League, Cooper Union, and the Educational Alliance of Art School.

In 1935 he stepped into the pivotal role of one of the founding members of "The Ten", a group of artists devoted to expressionist and abstract painting. In 1941 he began to develop "Pictographs", which were first exhibited in 1942. In 1943 he became a founding member of "New York Artist Painters", a group of abstract painters, including Mark Rothko and others. Over the following years, he received numerous awards for his art, and his work was purchased by many esteemed Museums for their collections.

In 1957 his first "Burst" painting was exhibited at the Martha Jackson Gallery in NYC. This year he also taught at both the Pratt Institute in New York, and the University of California in Los Angeles. The late 60's was a period of highs and lows for Gottlieb. He received Grand Premio, VII Bienal de Sao Paolo Brazil, and the American Academy of Achievement award in Dallas Texas, and he was also appointed to The Art Commission of the City of New York. There was a large retrospective of his work in 1968 organized jointly by the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

However, in 1966 his studio and its contents were destroyed by a fire. He also suffered a stroke a few years later which would leave him confined to a wheelchair. He continued to paint over the last few years of his life.