FIGURATION

Gottlieb, Adolph (1903-1974)

Gouche and Ink on Paper

1956

X1964.04.01

Adolph Gottlieb was accomplished as a painter, draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor. Disappointed with the art around him, he developed the approach he called Pictographs. Gottlieb's Pictographs, which he created from 1941 to 1954, are the first coherent body of mature painting by an American of his generation.

This image is dominated by a white radial armed form made up of a central mass with six spokes extending to all four sides of the paper. There is a wave of motion that ripples through this central form. A white wash covers evidence of underpainting done in black. Two arms extend to the top, two to the bottom and one to the right and one to the left, all slightly askew. Within this central form, there are two other smaller forms, both black, echoing the radiant quality of the main form. The top one is reminiscent of an asterisk with six spokes, a vertically oriented main stroke and two opposite diagonal lines. The second form is flower like with a central horizontal brushstroke and seven petal forms emminating from it, but not connected to the central brushstroke.