"James P. Johnson Love, " Adolph Gottlieb, Harlem Renaissance Jazz Music Abstract
By Adolph Gottlieb
Located in New York, NY
Adolph Gottlieb (1903 - 1974)
James P. Johnson Love, 1949
Watercolor and pencil on paper
10 x 12 inches
Signed and dated lower left
Provenance:
Harold Rosenberg, New York
James P. Johnson (1894-1955) was known as the father of "Stride" or "Harlem Stride," a blend of Ragtime and Jazz styles that became popular in the '20's. He composed 16 musicals, over 200 songs, a symphony, a piano concerto, two tone poems, and even an opera, mirroring the achievements of George Gershwin but never receiving the same level of recognition. Johnson's music inspired the likes of Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and countless others. He began to earn a living as a pianist by playing cabarets and dance halls until he gained slightly wider recognition and created compositions for black broadway and jazz scores for classical orchestras.In 1949, James P. Johnson was invited by actor and trombonist Conrad Janis to participate in band of what Janis believed to be the Jazz greats - Johnson played piano, along with Henry Goodwin (trumpet), Edmond Hall (clarinet), Pops Foster (bass) and Baby Dodds (drums), with Janis on trombone.
In 1948, Conrad Janis' father Sidney Janis opened his gallery befriended artists like Gorky and Duchamp in the 1940's, and showed Adolph Gottlieb. It is possible that Adolph Gottlieb and James P. Johnson became acquainted in the 1940’s through the Janis family.
Harold Rosenberg coined the term “action painting” in regards to expressionism, he wrote extensively on the Abstract Expressionist artists during his career as an art critic. In 1949,
Rosenberg co-curated an exhibition showcasing these artists with Samuel Kootz that included
Gottlieb, de Kooning, Will Baziotes, Gorky, Morris Graves, Hofmann, Motherwell, Pollock, Ad
Reinhardt, Rothko, Mark Tobey, and Bradley Walker Tomlin. An expressionist picture in the
personal collection of Harold Rosenberg, is the stamp of approval of quality as he is one of the
original voices of the abstract movement and held in the highest esteem as a critic.
Born in New York City in 1903, Adolph Gottlieb was a founding member of The Ten, a group devoted to abstract art with whom he was active for about five years. He became a major exponent of Abstract Expressionism whose painting style is linked to Marc Rothko...
Category
1940s Abstract Expressionist Adolph Gottlieb Art
MaterialsPaper, Watercolor, Pencil