In 1941, Gottlieb began a series of works that came to be known as pictographs, including the one on view here. Often featuring boxlike structures or grids, these paintings, drawings, and etchings offer a synthesis of material as diverse as classical mythology, modern psychoanalytic theory, Oceanic, Melanesian, Native American, and African cultures, and contemporary art and literature. In these works, which feature a range of faces, shapes, and forms, Gottlieb hoped to create a unifying, universal visual language that could be understood by all humanity across time and geography.
Soldier, Spectre, Shaman: The Figure and the Second World War, October 24, 2015-March 20, 2016.
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