Framed: 26 3/4 x 31 1/2 inches
artist
Adolph Gottlieb is credited with being one of the founding member s of The Ten, a group of artists dedicated to abstract art. The group numbered amongst its members Marc Rothko and William Baziotes. Gottlieb was a major proponent of Abstract expressionism and is considered amongst the first generation of Abstract Expressionists along with Rothko, Clyfford Still, and Barnet Newman, Willem de Kooning, and Jackson Pollack.
Description
Gottlieb had often used a horizon line in his works and around this date he began to use his forms, particularly that of an orb, no longer interacting with what seemed to be earth or the ground. His hieroglyphic symbols and forms have moved to this new realm where they simply command the space. Gottlieb had once commented on Milton Avery’s advice to him to “not try to paint a masterpiece”. Gottlieb countered that he felt that was exactly what he should try to do as there seemed to be too many pretty good pictures out there. This is exactly what makes Gottlieb’s compositions, including this one, as if in a different realm of statement from all other works. Small or large, color or no color, his forms strive toward the majestic, the sublime and the monumental.
provenance
Marlborough – Gerson Gallery, New York
Dunkelman Gallery, Toronto
Alberta Private Collection, Victoria
Heffel Fine Art Auctions, Canada
