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Premonition of Evil

Adolph Gottlieb

Contemporary Art

Adolph Gottlieb was an Abstract Expressionist painter whose subjects and forms were derived from sources including African and Native American art. His series of Pictographs (1941–51) related to the beliefs and myths of these cultures, from which he created a unique visual language. Premonition of Evil, painted just after the end of World War II, depicts fragments of the human body in divided areas of the composition. Searching eyes stare out at the viewer through the windows in Gottlieb's informal grid.

MEDIUM Oil and tempera on canvas
  • Place Made: United States
  • DATES 1946
    DIMENSIONS unframed: 40 1/8 x 36 1/8 in. (101.9 x 91.8 cm); framed: 40 3/4 x 36 3/4 in. (103.5 x 93.3 cm)  (show scale)
    SIGNATURE Signed lower left: "Adolph Gottlieb"
    COLLECTIONS Contemporary Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 1990.163
    CREDIT LINE Gift of the Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation, Inc. in honor of Esther Gottlieb and Lawrence Alloway
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Adolph Gottlieb (American, 1903-1974). Premonition of Evil, 1946. Oil and tempera on canvas, unframed: 40 1/8 x 36 1/8 in. (101.9 x 91.8 cm);. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation, Inc. in honor of Esther Gottlieb and Lawrence Alloway, 1990.163. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1990.163_SL1.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 1990.163_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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