Educational
1961
American
oil on canvas
Overall: 72 × 90 in. (182.88 × 228.6 cm)
85.396
Not on view

“Art is an adventure into an unknown world, which can be explored only by those willing to take the risk. This world of the imagination is fancy-free and violently opposed to common sense. It is our function as artists to make the spectator see our way, not his way.” —Adolph Gottlieb, Mark Rothko, and Barnett Newman

Gottlieb used abstract shapes and colors to express deep, subconscious levels of thought and emotion. A series of works he described as imaginary landscapes led, in the late 1950s, to his “burst” paintings. Rolling is one of these. Luminous red and blue disks hovering in the upper part of the composition suggest planets, while an agitated tangle of brushstrokes below evokes the earth. Gottlieb’s masterful, calligraphic brushwork exemplifies the Abstract Expressionist emphasis on gesture.

Signed on reverse: "Adolph Gottlieb/Rolling/1961/#6107"
Gift of Sydney and Frances Lewis
The Common Wealth, Roanoke Museum of Fine Arts, Roanoke, VA, December 1, 1990 – February 3, 1991

Made in America, Virginia Beach Arts Center, Virginia Beach, VA, April 5 – June 11, 1989

Adolph Gottlieb, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, February 14 – March 31, 1968; The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, April 26 – June 2, 1986

Adolph Gottlieb, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN, April 28 – June 29, 1963; VII Bienal de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil, September – December 1963

Abstract Expressionists and Imagists, Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY, October – December 1961.
(Sidney Janis Gallery, New York), by 1962. [1] Mr. and Mrs. A. I. Sherr Collection, New York. (Anita Friedman Fine Arts Ltd., New York) by 1979; Purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Sydney and Frances Lewis, Virginia, in June of 1981; Gift to Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA), Richmond, Virginia in December of 1985.

[1] Not confirmed. Sidney Janis Gallery, New York presented "Adolph Gottlieb" from October 1 - 27, 1961. Need exhibition checklist.
©artist or artist’s estate

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