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A painting in dark reds and rusts covered in a grid with mask like symbols.

The painting is a mixture of dark reds with rust colored patches with lightly applied white and light red-brown paint outlining various shapes and symbols resembling birds, an amphora, mask-like faces and hieroglyphs organized in a grid pattern. The faces, placed at the bottom center, dominate the work. A black triangular shape with a light brown disc slightly off-center and a diagonally placed light brown triangle branching off the base are placed in a square in the upper right corner. On the left side is a vase shaped object in light reddish brown.

Gallery Text

As a key figure of the New York school, Gottlieb vehemently defended abstraction against critics who saw the work as obscure and befuddling. His oppositional stance — and that of his peers — earned them the nickname “The Irascibles.” In Black Ground (1985.128.A), one of his Imaginary Landscape paintings, Gottlieb presents a mysterious world of symbols and colors that evoke the idea of landscape while not representing a specific place. The unfinished work on the other side (1985.128.B) dates from an earlier moment in his career. The allover pattern of symbols, organized within a grid, reflects Gottlieb’s interest in Jungian psychology, Greek mythology, and the forms of non-Western cultures. At a moment when the United States was emerging from World War II, Gottlieb proposed that the very act of painting was a heroic quest for meaning in an unstable age.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1985.128.B
People
Adolph Gottlieb, American (New York, NY 1903 - 1974 New York, NY)
Title
Untitled
Other Titles
Former Title: Pictograph (verso)
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
c. 1948-1949
Places
Creation Place: North America, United States
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/226414

Location

Location
Level 1, Room 1200, Modern and Contemporary Art, Mid–century Abstraction I
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Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil on canvas stretched over artist's board
Dimensions
35.9 x 45.7 cm (14 1/8 x 18 in.)
framed: 38.7 x 48.9 x 3.5 cm (15 1/4 x 19 1/4 x 1 3/8 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Adolph Gottlieb; to [André Emmerich Gallery, New York, New York], sold; to Mr. and Mrs. Harold Gershinowitz, New York, New York, gift; to Harvard University Art Museums, 1985.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Gershinowitz
Copyright
© Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Accession Year
1985
Object Number
1985.128.B
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 1200 Mid-Century Abstraction I (Painterly Abstraction), Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

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Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu