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Blast

Oil Painting
1960 (Painted)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Blast is one of a series of works made by Gottlieb beginning in 1957 and commonly known as Bursts. Intended to signify the fundamental conflicts present in myth - conflicts that as philosopher Carl Gustav Jung suggests, are also present in the individual personality. In Blast the polarities are not specifically identified. A sphere hovers over a more mercurial component, in terms of a person, perhaps alluding to the dominance of reason; the geometric, and therefore conscious, above the unconscious. The opposition of red and black may allude to life contrasted with death, according to the conventional colour symbolism of the New York Colour Field painters, of whom Gotlieb was one. Here the colours are austerely formulated according to principles first stated in a 1943 letter by Gotlieb and fellow Colour Field artist Mark Rothko, published in the New York Times: 'We favour the simple expression of the complex thought.'


Object details

Category
Object type
TitleBlast (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Oil on paper
Brief description
Oil painting entitled 'Blast' by Adolph Gottlieb. USA, 1960.
Physical description
'Blast' is intended to signify the fundamental conflicts present in myth-conflicts that (Jung suggested) are present in the individual personality.
Dimensions
  • Approx. height: 78.7cm
  • Approx. width: 56.5cm
Dimensions taken from departmental object file
Style
Marks and inscriptions
'Adolph Gottlieb 1960' (Signed and dated by the artist)
Object history
Purchased, 1966
Summary
Blast is one of a series of works made by Gottlieb beginning in 1957 and commonly known as Bursts. Intended to signify the fundamental conflicts present in myth - conflicts that as philosopher Carl Gustav Jung suggests, are also present in the individual personality. In Blast the polarities are not specifically identified. A sphere hovers over a more mercurial component, in terms of a person, perhaps alluding to the dominance of reason; the geometric, and therefore conscious, above the unconscious. The opposition of red and black may allude to life contrasted with death, according to the conventional colour symbolism of the New York Colour Field painters, of whom Gotlieb was one. Here the colours are austerely formulated according to principles first stated in a 1943 letter by Gotlieb and fellow Colour Field artist Mark Rothko, published in the New York Times: 'We favour the simple expression of the complex thought.'
Bibliographic reference
100 Great Paintings in The Victoria & Albert Museum. London: V&A, 1985, p.210
Collection
Accession number
P.24-1966

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Record createdDecember 15, 1999
Record URL
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