Adolph Gottlieb
American, 1903–1974
Pictograph-Symbol
INV-1817
Adolph Gottlieb
American, 1903–19741942
Pictograph-Symbol
Adolph Gottlieb American, 1903–1974 →oil on canvaspainting
Date
1942
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Without frame: 137.2 × 101.9 cm (54 1/16 × 40 1/8 in.); 137.2 × 102 cm (54 × 40 1/8 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Through prior gift of Society for Contemporary American Art
Adolph Gottlieb’s Pictograph series, created between 1941 and 1951, represents the artist’s early efforts at reconciling elements of abstraction with an exploration of the subconscious. To make these works, the artist laid down a grid as an organizing structure. Using a process of free association and intuition influenced by the Surrealist technique of automatism, or automatic drawing, he decided to employ symbols to fill the grid. Mining eclectic source material from non-Western cultures and modern art, Gottlieb invented a pictorial language that aimed to represent and convey universal ideas to the viewer.
Also notable
Works in the same vein
