Collections: Contemporary Art: Premonition of Evil

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This image is presented as a "thumbnail" because it is protected by copyright. The Brooklyn Museum respects the rights of artists who retain the copyright to their work.

Premonition of Evil

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.

• Artist: Adolph Gottlieb, American, 1903-1974
• Medium: Oil and tempera on canvas
• Place Made: USA
• 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)
• Signature: Signed lower left: "Adolph Gottlieb"
• Collections: Contemporary Art
• Museum Location: This item is on view in American Identities: A New Look, Modern Life, 5th Floor
• Accession Number: 1990.163
• Credit Line: Gift of the Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation, Inc. in honor of Esther Gottlieb and Lawrence Alloway
• Image: Overall, 1990.163_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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); framed: 40 3/4 x 36 3/4 in. (103.5 x 93.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation, Inc. in honor of Esther Gottlieb and Lawrence Alloway, 1990.163 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1990.163_SL1.jpg)