Pollock-Krasner House - Adolph Gottlieb: Early Prints

Adolph Gottlieb: Early Prints, May 1 to July 26

The Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center re-opens for the season with an exhibition of early graphic works by Adolph Gottlieb (1903-1974). The exhibition of fourteen prints, including several unique impressions, as well as rare images from very small editions, will be on view from Thursday, May 1 through Saturday, July 26.

830 Springs Fireplace Road, Springs, East Hampton. NY

631-324-4929

Although the Abstract Expressionists are known primarily for large-scale paintings, many of them also made more intimate works, including graphics. Gottlieb was one of the older members of the group, and his artistic output included work in many media and sizes. Throughout his fifty-five year career, in addition to paintings, sculptures and murals, he made several hundred drawings and many editions of prints. This exhibition, organized by Sanford Hirsch, Executive Director of the Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation, surveys the earliest period of his printmaking activity. Among the examples in the exhibition are his first known etching, Six Artists, featuring portrait sketches by Gottlieb and others; two unique hand-painted 1944 linoleum block prints; and several 1945 intaglio prints that echo the imagery Gottlieb was developing in his Pictograph paintings. An illustrated catalogue includes an essay by Mr. Hirsch, who will present a lecture on Gottlieb's early prints on Sunday, July 13 at 5 p.m., as part of the Pollock-Krasner House summer lecture series.

Gottlieb began making prints in 1933. According to his wife Esther, he chanced upon a dismantled etching press in a second-hand store in Brooklyn, bought it and put it back together in his studio. Over the next 15 years, he created numerous intaglio prints, primarily etchings, as well as drypoints and linoleum block prints. Apparently he did not study printmaking while he was enrolled at the Art Students League in the 1920s, but he may have learned the techniques from friends like Edgar Levy, a professional printmaker, and the painter Milton Avery, who also made his first print in 1933.

The exhibition is free with admission to the artist's house and studio, which are open to the public on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from May to October. The house is handicapped accessible.

May, September and October: One-hour guided tours on the hour, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., by appointment only. $10 prepaid. Members, children under 12, and SUNY/ CUNY students, faculty and staff are admitted free, but reservations are required. Call 631-324-4929.

June, July and August: One guided tour at noon, by appointment only. $10 prepaid. Members, children under 12, and SUNY/ CUNY students, faculty and staff are admitted free, but reservations are required. Call 631-324-4929. General admission 1 to 5 p.m., no appointment required. $5 at the door. Members, children under 12, and SUNY/ CUNY students, faculty and staff are admitted free. Free audio tour on a first-come, first served basis (security deposit required).

The Pollock-Krasner Study Center, a project of the Stony Brook Foundation and the Stony Brook University Department of Art, Art History and Art Criticism, is devoted to scholarship in modern American art, with special emphasis on Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner and their contemporaries. The lecture series is supported by grants from the New York State Council on the Arts, the Suffolk County Office of Cultural Affairs, the Herman Goldman Foundation and Arthur Byron Phillips.