Adolph Gottlieb: Universal Symbols

Adolphe Gottlieb - Composition - 1955 - Oil on canvas - 6' 1/8" x 60 1/8" (183.3 x 152.5 cm) - MoMA, New York (click photo for larger image)Growing up during the Depression and maturing throughout the interwar period and the rise of Hitler, American Abstract Expressionist Adolph Gottlieb (1903-1974) “staunchly defended the art of the avant-garde for its ability to express authentic feeling in the face of the trauma of World War II.” (The Art Story) His work remains highly relevant today, since great evils and profound ignorance, as well as noble aspirations and achievements continue to be part of the human experience.

In the 1940s, Gottlieb began to emulate the art of early Native American and Middle Eastern cultures, explorations that eventually inspired what came to be known as his Pictograph paintings. Gottlieb developed his own system of symbols, designed to appeal to the unconscious mind. He felt that new imagery was needed to address the complex issues and psyches of his day. He found inspiration and “a sense of primeval spirituality” in the Native American art and the arts of other tribal cultures. His objective was always to work toward creating universal meanings—using simple forms. The work featured here is an example of that idea.

In the artist’s own words, ”Different times require different images. Today when our aspirations have been reduced to a desperate attempt to escape from evil, and times are out of joint, our obsessive, subterranean and pictographic images are the expression of the neurosis which is our reality. To my mind certain so-called abstraction is not abstraction at all. On the contrary, it is the realism of our time.”