Adolph Gottlieb

American, 1903 - 1974

American artist Adolph Gottlieb was a pioneering abstract expressionist painter. His work was influenced by surrealism, automatism, and Jungian psychology. Gottlieb was born in 1903 in New York City and attended the Art Students League and Cooper Union college.

Gottlieb is known for his pictographs—paintings of familiar and invented symbols arranged in grid form. He also developed works he described as “Imaginary Landscapes,” which feature horizontal canvases divided into two portions. His later “Burst” paintings simplified form even further, often to a brightly colored disk hovering over a mass of dark brushstrokes.

The painter was associated with prominent New York painters Milton Avery and Mark Rothko, and his work reflects their influence. Gottlieb achieved notable success. In 1968, he was the subject of a retrospective presented at both the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. He died in 1974 at age 70.

Explore selected works

The image shows an abstract sculpture with geometric shapes. It includes a large black circle, a smaller curved black crescent shape, and a vibrant yellow circle on an orange panel backdrop. The shapes are made of metal with visible bolts. The contrasting colors add visual interest. The sculpture sits on a rectangular white base in a spacious indoor setting.
Adolph Gottlieb, Wall, 1968, painted aluminum, Gift of Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation, Inc., 1990.8.1

Wall

Adolph Gottlieb · 1968 · painted aluminum ·  Accession ID  1990.8.1
The image features a large black splatter resembling an ink blot at the bottom, while above it, a concentric circle with a maroon center and a blue band. Small offshoots extend from the edges of the splatter.
Adolph Gottlieb, Marlborough Gallery, Blue Halo, 1967, color screenprint on wove paper mounted to paperboard, Gift of Robert and Mercedes Eichholz, 2014.17.11

Blue Halo

Adolph Gottlieb, Marlborough Gallery · 1967 · color screenprint on wove paper mounted to paperboard ·  Accession ID  2014.17.11
The image features a bold arrangement of shapes, with a large black irregular form at the bottom and a prominent red circle enveloped by a lighter red halo at the top.
Adolph Gottlieb, Centrifugal, 1961, gouache on paperboard, Gift of the Woodward Foundation, Washington, D.C., 1976.56.45

Centrifugal

Adolph Gottlieb · 1961 · gouache on paperboard ·  Accession ID  1976.56.45
This painting shows a large red circle near the top, diffusing softly into the background with a slight pinkish aura. Below the red circle, there is a black amorphous shape surrounded by smaller specks and splatters of paint. The background is beige, with some small areas of red on the right side and bottom right corner.
Adolph Gottlieb, Small Burst, 1961, oil on paper mounted on canvas, Corcoran Collection (Gift of the Women's Committee of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1966), 2015.19.105

Small Burst

Adolph Gottlieb · 1961 · oil on paper mounted on canvas ·  Accession ID  2015.19.105
The image depicts geometric shapes and lines against a dark background. The composition includes vertical sections with various arrangements of shapes resembling an eye, tear droplets, and masks. The segments showcase circles, triangles, and ovals forming patterns resembling totemic symbols or mechanical parts. Bold brushstrokes and earthy tones enhance the mystique of the artwork, connecting the abstract forms with motifs like masks or tribal emblems.
Adolph Gottlieb, Pictograph, 1946/1947, watercolor with scraping on wove paper, Gift of Ruth Cole Kainen, 2006.57.9

Pictograph

Adolph Gottlieb · 1946/1947 · watercolor with scraping on wove paper ·  Accession ID  2006.57.9
The image is a composition of rectangles and squares arranged in a grid-like pattern, filled with various abstract shapes and figures. The abstract imagery suggests forms resembling faces and elongated fish-like shapes, with a set of vertical lines resembling fingers or a hand. The arrangement and interplay of shapes give the appearance of a mosaic filled with symbolic references or hieroglyphs.
Adolph Gottlieb, Pictograph, 1942, oil on canvas, Gift of Aaron I. Fleischman, 2002.101.1

Pictograph

Adolph Gottlieb · 1942 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2002.101.1
The image depicts a large rectangular surface with intricate textures, topped by an outline of a conch shell. The color palette is mainly monochrome, consisting of grayscale tones. The conch shell sits on top of the rectangular panel, which occupies the central part of the image. Two smaller objects are depicted on the left within a vertical band adjacent to the rectangle.
Adolph Gottlieb, Composition, c. 1939, etching in black on wove paper, Andrew W. Mellon Fund, 1976.23.1

Composition

Adolph Gottlieb · c. 1939 · etching in black on wove paper ·  Accession ID  1976.23.1
The image shows a half-length portrait of a person against a greenish-brown background. The person faces slightly to the left, with an elongated face, arched eyebrows, a long nose, and full lips. They have short, dark, combed back hair and wear a light-colored garment with red accents. They hold a cylindrical object in their right hand and their left hand rests below. Carved details on the chair are visible just above their shoulders. The painting is signed "A. Gotlieb 1935" in the bottom right corner.
Adolph Gottlieb, Lucille Corcos, 1934, oil on paper on hardboard, Corcoran Collection (Gift of David C. Levy, 1991), 2015.19.198

Lucille Corcos

Adolph Gottlieb · 1934 · oil on paper on hardboard ·  Accession ID  2015.19.198
The image shows six portraits arranged in a grid layout, each featuring a single person from the shoulders up. The top left portrait depicts a person with a long neck and short hair looking to the side, surrounded by whimsical patterns. In the center top, a person with a prominent hairstyle and mustache is shown frontally with text that reads "HEY POPPA BY LUCILLE" and "DA MIRROR." The top right image displays a person with a slightly tilted head and textured style framed by the words "ADOLPH" and reversed text. In the bottom left, a person with short hair and an inquisitive expression is shown with the name "Edgar" underneath and a simple grid background. On the center bottom section, a person with long flowing hair and a neutral expression is depicted with the initials "A.G." The portrait on the bottom right shows a person with slick, combed-back hair wearing a collared shirt and tie with lines indicating city buildings behind them. The overall style is sketchy and illustrative with a focus on lines and patterns.
Various Artists, Dorothy Dehner, Lucille Corcos, Adolph Gottlieb, Esther Gottlieb, Edgar W. Levy, David Smith, Six Artists Etching, 1933, etching on wove paper, Gift of Bob Stana and Tom Judy, 2020.168.6

Six Artists Etching

Various Artists, Dorothy Dehner, Lucille Corcos, Adolph Gottlieb, Esther Gottlieb, Edgar W. Levy, David Smith · 1933 · etching on wove paper ·  Accession ID  2020.168.6
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Blue Halo

Adolph Gottlieb · 1967 · color screenprint on wove paper ·  Accession ID  2008.127.1

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