Adolph Gottlieb

Adolph Gottlieb (March 14, 1903 – March 4, 1974) was an American abstract expressionist painter, sculptor and printmaker.

Adolph Gottlieb, one of the "first generation" of Abstract Expressionists, was born in New York in 1903 to Jewish parents. From 1920-1921 he studied at the Art Students League of New York, after which, having determined to become an artist he left high school at the age of 17 and worked his passage to Europe on a merchant ship. He traveled in France and Germany for a year. He lived in Paris for 6 months during which time he visited the Louvre Museum every day and audited classes at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. He spent the next year travelling in Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and other part of Central Europe, visiting museums and art galleries. When he returned, he was one of the most traveled New York Artists. After his return to New York, he studied at the Art Students League, Parsons School of Design, Cooper Union and the Educational Alliance.

Throughout his career Adolph Gottlieb had 56 solo exhibitions and was included in over 200 group exhibitions. His works of art are in the collections of more than 140 major museums around the world. Gottlieb was accomplished as a painter, draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor. He designed and oversaw construction of a 1500 square-foot stained glass façade for the Milton Steinberg Center in New York City in 1954, and he designed a suite of 18 stained glass windows for the Kingsway Jewish Center in Brooklyn. He was the first of his generation to have his art collected by the Museum of Modern Art (1946) and the Guggenheim Museum (1948).

Gottlieb suffered a major stroke in 1970 that left him paralyzed except for his right arm and hand. He was voted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1972. He continued to paint and to exhibit his art until his death in March 1974.

In addition to his contributions as an artist, Gottlieb advocated for professional status for artists throughout his life. He helped to organize “Forum 49” and other artist-led events and symposia in New York and Provincetown in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1950 he was the primary organizer of the protest against the Metropolitan Museum of Art that resulted in he and his colleagues gaining recognition as “The Irascibles”. Following directions Gottlieb left in his Will, the Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation was formed in 1976, offering grants to visual artists.