Michael Goldberg (American, 1924–2007)

Untitled, 1961

Lithograph on cream wove paper

Edition: Artist Proof of an Edition of 30

30 x 22 2/5 inches

Signed & dated lower right; numbered lower left

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The Stamp of Impulse: Abstract Expressionist Prints by David Acton

"The present print, made in collaboration with Arnold Singe at the Pratt Graphic Art Center in New York, captures the painterly immediacy of Goldberg’s contemporaneous canvas. Broad, interwoven vertical and horizontal gestures create a rectangular form, densely detailed inside and rough along its edges, not unlike the central motif of Goldberg’s House Paintings or images from his Codex series. This print was created from three stones, with umber, gray and purple ink, working from light to darker hues. The artist achieved rich black passages by printing purple over gray, using tiny pins that pierced the sheet and accurately positioned the paper for precise registration. Working directly on the stone, with no preconceived design, Goldberg applied and manipulated liquid tusche in many different ways. He brushed on very thin pigment, allowing it to drip and run. Pouring thicker, viscous ink onto the stone, he used the broad edge of a printer’s knife o pull it across the printing surface, just as he applied heavy pigment to his canvases, causing similar streaks and spattered edges. One of these scraping tools had comblike edges, creating the purple area of parallel hatching in the middle of the composition. The artist also distributed and blotted thin ink, using a wad of gauzelike fabric that left the mark of its coarse weave on the stone. He exploited such accidents of design, and the behavior of the greasy tusche, as his image grew from the process of its creation. Goldberg’s print creates effects of depth and transparency by layering veils of screen like gesture. The brooding colors create a sense of mystery. Umber highlights break through chinks between dark gestures, and draw the viewer close to examine obscured layers of spontaneous imagery. Despite its dark mass, the feathery edges of the image, particularly along he bottom, impart a weightless, hovering quality. It is these visible paradoxes, like density and lightness, calculation and immediacy, control and chance, that make his image fascinate."

Biography

Born on December 24, 1924 in the Bronx, NY, Goldberg went on to study at the Art Students League of New York and was a veteran of World War II. He was appreciated for his classes at the School of Visual Arts in New York, where he taught for many years. Goldberg was an American artist best known for his Abstract Expressionist paintings and involvement with the New York School, which is also associated with Philip Guston and Willem de Kooning. Goldberg’s signature works are hallmarked by their expressive brushwork and free association abstraction, combining Western European painting traditions with Eastern philosophies and the cultural reservoir of post-war New York.

His works can be found in the Baltimore Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., and the Cleveland Museum of Art, among others.