One of the founding members of the Abstract Expressionists, first known as “The Ten”, Adolph Gottlieb has left an indelible imprint in the history of Modern and Contemporary art. Dismissing the prominent discourse of American art during the post-war period, Gottlieb sought to convey expression through color and gesture, stating: “I use color in terms of emotional quality, as a vehicle for feeling…feeling is everything I have experienced or thought.” (A. Gottlieb in R. Doty and D. Waldman,
Adolph Gottlieb, New York, 1968).
Pursuing the possibilities of a “global language of art”, the artist soon turned towards his contemporaries in Paris, the Surrealists. While the outcome of his practice clearly deviated from Surrealism, it appeared nonetheless to be an amalgamation of Surrealism and tribal art; suggestions of mystical interventions through the use of hieroglyphs, totemic symbols, and grid-like compositions. By the 1950s Gottlieb had abandoned his grids, simplifying compositions by focusing on color, form and expression, ultimately making way for his seminal series of Burst paintings. The present lot, Volcanic, 1971, exemplifes the artist’s vertical Burst paintings, ofering a contained space for visual disruption. Despite the fact that the artist had suffered from a debilitating stroke just a year prior to this painting’s creation, Volcanic, 1971, delivers an explosive impression. Dividing his canvas into two sections, Gottlieb suggests an abstracted view of landscape and cosmos over a monochromatic deep brown background, revealing explosive gestures of red paint in the lower half of the canvas and a quiet moon-like disk hovering above it. Indeed, Volcanic, 1971, is atense balance of dualities, in form, color and reference.