Hunter Museum offers rare look at influential abstract expressionist painter Adolph Gottlieb

An untitled monotype in ink on paper by American abstract expressionist painter Adolph Gottlieb produced shortly before his death in 1974. Plate size: 17.75 by 12 inches; paper size: 22.25 x 15.5 inches.

A rare exhibition of works by abstract expressionist Adolph Gottlieb will go on view Friday, March 4, at the Hunter Museum of American Art.

"A Painter's Hand: The Works of Adolph Gottlieb" offers a look at a largely unexamined aspect of the career of one of the most highly influential thinkers and artists of the 20th century, curators say. The exhibition features 40 of the artist's little-known monotypes along with three of his well-known paintings.

A first-generation abstract expressionist painter, Gottlieb made art that was central to the development of mid-20th-century painting in America. Born in New York City, Gottlieb came of age at a time when European painting reigned supreme and Paris was the center of the art world. He left high school in New York to study art in France and Germany. Upon his return in 1924, he attended classes at the Art Students League.

The paintings Gottlieb created in the 1940s and '50s broke radically with the European art he had admired, and his vision opened new doors for other artists. He helped to define the abstract expressionist movement, which is considered the first truly unique American art form. Among the aims of the abstract expressionist painters was to tap into universal subject matter and emotion to paint in a way that reflected their individual psyches.

Experts describe Gottlieb's 50-year artistic career as being marked by a continual search for originality, independence and a desire to change the art of his era. In 1956, he reduced the imagery in his paintings to basic forms, developing what are now termed his "burst" paintings, some of which are featured in this exhibition.

Much of the Hunter's exhibition also explores monotypes created within the last nine months of the artist's life. Monotypes are unique works of art produced with the use of a printing press, and Gottlieb approached them with the same spirit as his paintings. In all, according to curators, he found working on monotypes to be a return to the freedom and technical experimentation that he prized.

"A Painter's Hand: The Works of Adolph Gottlieb" was organized by the Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation in New York.

To continue the themes examined in the Gottlieb show, the Hunter will offer a companion exhibit, "Gesture and Control: Postwar Works on Paper," through early July in the Doug Fir Hallway. The works, from the museum's permanent collection, are explorations in printmaking by abstract expressionist and color field painters.