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LOT 059

1903 - 1974
American

Untitled #74
acrylic on paper
signed, dated 1967 and inscribed "74" and on verso titled and dated on the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery label and inscribed "6774" and "3371F"
15 x 20 in, 38.1 x 50.8 cm

Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000 CAD

Sold for: $55,250

Preview at: Heffel Toronto – 13 Hazelton Ave

PROVENANCE
Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York
Dunkelman Gallery, Toronto
Al Pyrch, Alberta
Private Collection, Victoria


Known for his abstract paintings of distilled visual articulation, Adolph Gottlieb was a critical figure in post-war American art. In 1935, Gottlieb, alongside Mark Rothko, exhibited with a group known as “The Ten.” Their championing of abstraction challenged the institutional status quo, catalyzing the spread of modern art in New York and setting the stage for Abstract Expressionism.

Beginning in 1956, at the height of Cold War anxieties, Gottlieb almost exclusively painted his celebrated Burst series, perhaps one of the most poignant allusions to the atomic blast in post-war art. This untitled work from 1967, originally exhibited at the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, in New York, continues from this series of works, in which Gottlieb would paint an orb-like shape in the sky, hovering above a ground of tangled calligraphic markings. For years he explored variations of this dynamic binary in depth, dividing the canvas in two with an imaginary horizon in the centre. Gottlieb conceived of this pictorial landscape structure as elemental in its opposition, through which profound dualities could be considered, such as heaven and hell, cycles of creation and destruction, and life and death.


Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000 CAD

All prices are in Canadian Dollars


Although great care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information posted, errors and omissions may occur. All bids are subject to our Terms and Conditions of Business. Bidders must ensure they have satisfied themselves with the condition of the Lot prior to bidding. Condition reports are available upon request.