About the Artist

1903:
Adolf Gottlieb is born March 14, 1903, to his parents Emil and Elsie Gottlieb in New York City.  The family is living on East 10th Street, opposite Tompkins Square Park. Gottlieb is the first and only son, followed by his sisters, Edna and Rhoda. 

1920:
Dissatisfied with high school, Gottlieb leaves school and begins working in his father’s stationery business. He enrolls in the Art Students League where he studies in the evenings.  He takes art classes under John Sloan and attends lectures of Robert Henri.

1921:
Gottlieb and his family move to Grand Concourse in the Bronx. At age 17, Gottlieb, along with a high school friend, decide to go abroad. With no passports and little money, they both work their passage to Europe. Gottlieb lives in Paris for six months where he attends sketch classes at Academie de la Grande Chaumiere and visits the Louvre Museum every day. He remains in Europe for an additional year, traveling to Berlin, Munich, Dresden, Vienna, and Prague, visiting galleries and museums.

1923:
Gottlieb returns to New York. Urged by his parents to finish high school, Gottlieb attends classes in the evenings, while he works for his father. His return to New York is marked by frequent visits to museums and galleries, which he shares with his friend Barnet Newman. Gottlieb’s desire to be an artist leads him to study at Parsons School of Design, The Art Students League, Cooper Union, and the Education Alliance Art School. It is at the Educational Alliance that Gottlieb befriends fellow artists Raphael Soyer and Chaim Gross.  He meets John Graham through the Arts Students League.

late 1920s:
Gottlieb begins showing at the Opportunity Gallery on 56th Street in New York in the late 1920s. Through the gallery, he meets and begins lasting friendships with Milton Avery and Mark Rothko. Gottlieb also works several odd jobs during this period, such as sign painting, teaching at settlement houses, summer camps, etc. 

1929:
Gottlieb is awarded first prize in the Dudensing National Competition along with the artist Konrad Cramer. His prize is a solo exhibition.

1930:
Gottlieb now has a studio on East Broadway which he occasionally shares with Barnett Newman. His first solo exhibition at the Dudensing Gallery in New York opens in May.

1932:
Gottlieb moves with his family to 845 West End Avenue. On June 12th he marries Esther Dick. They spend their summer in Rockport, MA where Gottlieb continues to paint watercolors and oils.

1933:
Gottlieb changes the spelling of his name from Adolf to Adolph as a reaction to the election of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany.  In the summer, Adolph and Esther spend time in East Gloucester, MA along with Averys. They will continue to vacation in East Gloucester for the next three summers.  In November, the Gottliebs move to State Street in Brooklyn. Gottlieb becomes close friends with the artist David Smith, who lives around the corner.  Smith and Gottlieb visit daily until the Smiths move to Bolton Landing, NY in 1940.  Gottlieb begins making prints, which he will continue through 1947. He will pick up printmaking again in 1966.

1934:
Gottlieb has a solo exhibition at the Theodore A. Kohn Gallery in New York. He is also included in several exhibitions at the Gallery Secession.

1935:
Gottlieb becomes a founding member of “The Ten” a group of artists devoted to expressionist and abstract painting. These exhibitions take place at the Montross Gallery in New York City. In July, the Gottliebs travel to Europe visiting Amsterdam, Brussels, Tervuren, and Paris. Gottlieb purchases five African sculptures in Paris.

1936:
In November, “The Ten” have an exhibition at Galerie Bonaparte in Paris.  At this time, Gottlieb joins the Easel Painting division of the WPA Federal project.

1937:
Gottlieb resigns from the WPA. In the summer, the Gottliebs visit the Averys in Bondeville, VT where Gottlieb and Avery draw and paint pastoral scenes. That fall, after Esther is advised by her doctor to go to a dry climate to improve her health, the Gottliebs move to the desert near Tucson, Arizona.  In the eight months spent there, Gottlieb changes his painting style and creates about 50 paintings and an equal number of drawings.

1938:
The Gottliebs return to New York, then spend the summer in Provincetown, MA where Gottlieb sketches boxes on the beach. In September, they move back to Brooklyn, to 121 Joralemon Street. 

1939:
Gottlieb wins a U.S. Treasury-sponsored nationwide mural competition. He is commissioned to paint a mural for the post office in Yerrington, Nevada. The mural is installed in 1941 where it is still on view today.
Gottlieb is joined by eleven artists who resign from The Artists Congress as a protest against the Congress not taking a stand against the Hitler-Stalin pact. 

That summer, the Gottliebs rent a cabin in Woodstock, NY and visit several artist friends.

1940:
Gottlieb has a solo exhibition at the Artists Gallery in New York City. He exhibits the still-life paintings he made in Arizona.

1941:
Gottlieb begins his “Pictograph” paintings.

1942:
In May, Gottlieb exhibits his first “pictograph” in the second annual exhibition of the Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors, located at the Wildenstein Galleries in New York. Gottlieb’s first solo exhibition of pictographs Adolph Gottlieb: Painting opens in December at the Artists Gallery, New York.

1943:
Gottlieb becomes a founding member of the “New York Artists Painters”, a group of abstract painters, including Mark Rothko, John Graham, and George Constant. He co-authors a letter with Mark Rothko, published in the New York Times (June 13), which is the first formal statement of concerns of the Abstract Expressionist artists. In October, Gottlieb and Rothko present their views in a radio broadcast in “Art in New York” on WNYC.  

1944:
Gottlieb wins first prize at the Brooklyn Society of Artists, Annual Exhibition for Symbols and the Desert.  He becomes the president of the Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors. Gottlieb is included in the Sidney Janis book “Abstract and Surrealist Art in America”. Two Pictographs are included in a touring exhibition of the same name which travels throughout the United States. Gottlieb exhibits for the first time at the Wakefield Gallery, New York. Gottlieb becomes the president of the Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors through 1945.

1945:  
Gottlieb has a solo exhibition at Gallery 67 and later, at the Nierendorff Gallery in New York. The Nierendorff Gallery sells 11 works to the Guggenheim Museum.

1946:
In the summer of 1946, the Gottliebs rent an apartment and studio in Provincetown, MA where they will return for the next 10 summers. In April, Gottlieb joins the Kootz Gallery, a major showplace for several Abstract Expressionists.  Gottlieb sells his first work to the Museum of Modern Art, ”Voyager’s Return”. He participates in the forum, “Problems of Art and Artists Today and Tomorrow” where Gottlieb chairs the forum “The Function of Art Criticism”. In November he is included in the exhibition “International Exhibition of Modern Art” at the Musee d’Art Moderne in Paris.

1947:
Gottlieb becomes a founding member of “The Graphic Circle”, a group that exhibits at Seligmann Gallery, New York.  In the spring a group of Gottlieb’s paintings are exhibited at the Galerie Maeght in Paris.

1948:
Gottlieb participates in the forum, “The Modern Artist Speaks” at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. His talk is titled “Unintelligibility”. At this time Gottlieb begins a series of paintings which he calls the “Unstill Life” paintings.

1949:
In the spring of 1949, Gottlieb chairs the forum “The Schism between Artist and Public” at the Art Students League. That summer he participates in the Forum 49, a series of symposia by and for artists in Provincetown and New York City.

1950:
Gottlieb receives the purchase prize from the University of Illinois exhibition, Contemporary American Painting for his work “Romanesque Façade”.  In March, Gottlieb pens the essay for the Kootz Gallery catalogue on Arshile Gorky. This is the first posthumous exhibition and essay on the artist who died in the summer of 1948. He also organizes a protest of an exhibition jury at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, through which Gottlieb and his colleagues became known as The Irascibles. 

1951:
Gottlieb begins his “Imaginary Landscape” paintings. In October, he is approached about a commission for the Millburn Synagogue, for which he designs the curtains for the sanctuary that contains the Torah scrolls. Received the purchase award from the University of Illinois.

1952:
In January, Gottlieb exhibits his “Imaginary Landscape” paintings at Kootz Gallery. Gottlieb is awarded the commission to design and supervise the fabrication of a 1300-square-foot stained glass façade for The Milton Steinberg Memorial Center, New York. The project is completed and dedicated in 1954.

1953:
Gottlieb designs the ark curtain for Congregation Beth El in Springfield, MA. The synagogue experiences a devastating fire in the 1960s when all works are destroyed.

1954:
In January, Gottlieb gives a talk at the annual College Art Association of America (CAA) meeting, his talk is titled “Artist and Society, A Brief History”. In the spring, a Gottlieb retrospective exhibition was organized by Clement Greenberg at Bennington College, Bennington, VT. In December, Gottlieb participates in the conference “Art Education and the Creative Process” which was sponsored by the Museum of Modern Art, New York. His talk was titled “The Responsibility of Artist in Morals and Faith”.

1955:
Gottlieb is commissioned to design and supervise a suite of stained glass windows at the Kingsway Jewish Center in Brooklyn which he completes within the year.

1957:
His first “Burst” paintings are shown as part of a solo exhibition at the Martha Jackson Gallery in January. Gottlieb teaches at the Pratt Institute, Brooklyn. In November, a retrospective exhibition is organized by the Jewish Museum of New York.

1958:
In the summer Gottlieb teaches at the University of California. Upon his return, he summers in East Hampton for the first time. In April, the Museum of Modern Art organizes the exhibition, “The New American Painting” which tours Europe (Basel, Madrid, Berlin, Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, and London) and introduces the European audience to Abstract Expressionism.  Gottlieb’s paintings are now being represented by Andre Emmerich Gallery.

1959:
In April, Gottlieb has a one-person exhibition at Galerie Rive Droite in Paris and at Paul Kantor Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA. Lawrence Alloway organizes a Gottlieb survey exhibition for the Institute of Contemporary Art in London. Gottlieb is also included in Dokumenta II, in Kassel, Germany in July.

1960:
This year the Gottlieb’s purchase a property in East Hampton, NY. Gottlieb has a carriage house on the property turned to face true north, this is now his painting studio outside of New York City. In the spring, Gottlieb joins the Sidney Janis Gallery. 

1961:
Gottlieb is awarded Third Prize at the Pittsburgh International Exhibition at the Carnegie Institute for his painting, Tan Over Black.

1962:
Gottlieb paintings are included in the Seattle World’s Fair.

1963:
Gottlieb has a major solo exhibition at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, organized by Martin Freidman. In September, his work is featured and he becomes the first U.S. artist to be awarded the Gran Premio, at the VII Bienal de Sao Paolo, Brazil. He and Esther go to Brazil where he is received with great honor. Gottlieb moves his New York City studio to 940 Broadway at 22nd Street.

1964:
In January, Gottlieb joins the Marlborough Gallery. John Bauer, director at the Whitney, first approaches Gottlieb regarding a major retrospective. This will lead to many discussions, joined by the director of the Guggenheim Museum and resulting in a major retrospective exhibition in 1968.

1966:
A large fire destroys Gottlieb’s New York City studio and all its contents. He establishes a new studio at 190 Bowery. Gottlieb begins printmaking again.

1967:
Gottlieb is appointed to The Art Commission, City of New York. He is approached by Charles Slatkin to make tapestries. He agrees and creates several tapestries over the coming years.

1968:
A major retrospective exhibition organized jointly by the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum opens at both museums in New York City simultaneously – the first and only time this has occurred. Gottlieb begins to make sculpture this year.

1969:
Gottlieb and the artist Arman jointly purchase the building at 380 West Broadway. Gottlieb will eventually establish his studio and residence here.

1971:
After suffering a stroke in the spring, Gottlieb is confined to a wheelchair. His left side is paralyzed, yet he continues to paint. Gottlieb is elected a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters.

1973:
Gottlieb delivers a lecture and juries a student exhibition at Arizona State University.  In the summer, Gottlieb begins work on a series of monotypes that continues until two weeks before his death.

1974:
Gottlieb dies on March 4 in New York City. The Museum of Modern Art organizes a memorial exhibition which opens March 20th.