Adolph Gottlieb

Adolph Gottlieb (New York, March 14, 1903 – New York, March 4, 1974) was a prominent American painter and sculptor, associated with the Abstract Expressionist movement.

Gottlieb left high school at the age of 16 in New York to pursue art studies at the Art Students League. At 18, he traveled to Europe, where he gained exposure to various artistic influences, studying at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and visiting cities like Berlin and Munich.

Upon returning to New York in 1923, he completed high school and continued his art education at various institutions, including the Parsons School of Design. In 1935, alongside Mark Rothko, he co-founded "The Ten," a group of New York artists. During this period, his abstract works were already being exhibited and awarded. Influenced by surrealism, Gottlieb began creating his "pictographs" in 1941, using graphic symbols arranged in grid-like compositions. One notable example of this phase is "The Return of the Traveler" (1946), now housed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

In addition to his artistic output, Gottlieb was actively involved in public debates on contemporary art and protests against jury decisions, which led him and his peers to be known as "the Irascibles."

During the 1950s, he developed the "Imaginary Landscapes" series, characterized by stylized suns. Later, he created his "Burst Paintings," focusing on the relationship between opposing forms.

In 1968, two major retrospectives of his work were held in New York, at the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Even after suffering a stroke in 1970, which left him paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair, Gottlieb continued to paint. In 1972, he was accepted as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, honoring his life's work.

After his death in 1976, the Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation was established, providing financial assistance to artists facing hardship.

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