Tom Lieber Paintings

Hand signed and dated 1980 verso. Tom Lieber (b. 1949) Abstract Expressionist Painter Abstract Painting Monotype Color Field Calligraphic Abstraction Guggenheim Museum Tate Modern Metropolitan Museum of Art California Hawaii Tom Lieber (born 1949, St. Louis, Missouri) is one of the most celebrated and internationally collected American abstract painters of his generation — a large-scale oil painter, monotypist, and printmaker whose luminous, gesture-driven canvases are held in the permanent collections of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles (MOCA), the Tate Gallery in London, Stanford University Museum of Art, the Oakland Museum of California, the Krannert Art Museum, and the St. Louis Art Museum. With a career spanning more than five decades, Lieber has established a distinctive visual language rooted in Abstract Expressionism, Color Field painting, calligraphic mark-making, and a deep attunement to the natural landscapes of California and Hawaii — producing paintings that are simultaneously monumental and meditative, physically powerful and spiritually resonant. Early Life and Education Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, Lieber pursued his fine art education at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, earning a BFA in 1971 and an MFA in 1974 — one of the most respected graduate painting programs in the Midwest, with a tradition of rigorous engagement with modernist painting and printmaking. Following graduation, he relocated to San Francisco, immersing himself in the Bay Area's vibrant artistic community and beginning the sustained painting practice that would define his career. Early Recognition: NEA Fellowship and the Guggenheim In 1975, just one year after completing his MFA, Lieber was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Artists' Grant — one of the most prestigious recognitions available to an emerging American artist. In 1982, he was selected for the landmark Emerging American Artists' Exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, curated by Diane Waldman — a career-defining moment that placed him alongside the most significant young painters in the country and brought his work to national attention. The following year, 1983, he was included in the New Perspectives in American Art: Exxon National Exhibition at the Guggenheim — further cementing his standing as a major figure in contemporary American abstraction. Garner Tullis and the Circle of Abstract Masters In 1983, Lieber began a transformative collaboration with master printer and artist Garner Tullis at Experimental Press in Santa Barbara — one of the most significant printmaking studios in American art, whose collaborators have included some of the greatest names in postwar abstraction. Through Tullis, Lieber entered into close working relationships with artists including Sam Francis, Helen Frankenthaler, Sean Scully, John Walker, Friedel Dzubas, and William T. Wiley — placing him in direct creative dialogue with the leading figures of American and international abstract painting. These connections deepened Lieber's engagement with Color Field painting, lyrical abstraction, and the expressive potential of large-scale monotype — a medium he has continued to pursue throughout his career, later producing monotypes with master printer Phil Sanders at Trillium Graphics in San Francisco. His monotypes have been exhibited in The Art of Collaboration: Monotypes from the Studios of Garner Tullis at California State University, San Bernardino. Artistic Style: Abstract Expressionism, Color Field, and Calligraphic Mark-Making Lieber's paintings occupy a unique position at the intersection of several of the most significant movements in postwar American art. His gestural approach connects him directly to the Abstract Expressionist tradition of Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, and Willem de Kooning, while his sensitivity to color, tonal modulation, and the behavior of paint on large surfaces places him in dialogue with the Color Field painters Helen Frankenthaler, Morris Louis, Jules Olitski, and Friedel Dzubas. His monumental oil-laden canvases have been compared to the work of Joan Mitchell — whose large-scale gestural abstractions similarly engage with nature, energy, and the physical act of painting — while his subtle use of color and atmospheric luminosity evoke the painting of Mark Rothko and Brice Marden. What distinguishes Lieber is his calligraphic mark-making — a single bold brushstroke or gestural line that anchors the composition, allowing underlying color fields and tonal variations to recede and advance across the picture plane. This approach is informed by his practice of Aikido, his engagement with jazz, and his sustained interest in meditation and Eastern philosophy — influences he absorbed during his years in Berkeley, California in the 1970s and 1980s. The result is a body of work that is simultaneously physically commanding and spiritually contemplative, rooted in the body as an instrument of painting and in nature as the ultimate source of form, color, and energy. Hawaii and the Natural Landscape In 2000, Lieber relocated to Kauai, Hawaii, where he continues to divide his time between the islands and Los Angeles. The volcanic landscape, lush vegetation, tropical light, and oceanic environment of Hawaii have profoundly deepened his engagement with nature as a primary subject and source — giving rise to a body of work in which landscape and abstraction merge seamlessly. Paintings such as Hot Water, Lava, and Black Drop bear the imprint of the Hawaiian environment directly, with colors and gestures drawn from the specific visual experience of living on the island. Gallery Representation and Solo Exhibition History Lieber's gallery career spans the most respected fine art venues in the United States and internationally. His long-term representation has included John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco (1996) — one of the most prestigious galleries on the West Coast; Hackett-Freedman Gallery, San Francisco (2003, 2004, 2005); Craig Krull Gallery, Los Angeles (2006, 2008, 2009); Dolby Chadwick Gallery, San Francisco (2010, 2012, 2014, 2017, 2020) — his primary long-term San Francisco gallery; and FP Contemporary, Culver City (2020). Additional solo venues include LewAllen Gallery, Santa Fe (1998); Margulies Taplin Gallery, Coral Gables and Boca Raton, Florida (1994, 1995); Bentley Gallery, Phoenix, Arizona (2016); Robischon Gallery, Denver, Colorado (2018); J. Cacciola Gallery, New York (2014); Galerie 103, Kauai, Hawaii (2009, 2011, 2013, 2015); Friesen+Lantz Fine Art (2021, 2022); Samuelis Baumgarte Galerie, Bielefeld, Germany; N.E. Galerie, Darmstadt, Germany (1997, 2000); Galerie Edeling, Copenhagen, Denmark (1998); Maui Arts and Cultural Center, Maui, Hawaii (2020); and HybridART, Budapest, Hungary (2019). Group Exhibitions Lieber's group exhibition record includes: Emerging American Artists, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (1982); New Perspectives in American Art: 1983 Exxon National Exhibition, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (1983); Mid-America IV, St. Louis Art Museum; Highlights: Selections from the Bank of America Corporation Art Collection, Plaza Gallery, Bank of America, San Francisco (1984); and The Art of Collaboration: Monotypes from the Studios of Garner Tullis, California State University, San Bernardino. Museum Collections Tom Lieber's paintings and prints are held in the permanent collections of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA); the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA); the Tate Gallery, London; Stanford University Museum of Art, Palo Alto, California; the Oakland Museum of California; the Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois; the Huntington Gallery at the University of Texas, Austin; the Washington University Gallery of Fine Arts, St. Louis; and the Bank of America Art Collection, among others. Awards and Recognition National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Fellowship (1975); selected for Emerging American Artists' Exhibition, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (1982); United States Artists Fellowship. His work has been the subject of a monograph by critic Carter Ratcliff, Utopian Contingencies: The Paintings of Tom Lieber (Hackett-Freedman Gallery, 2003). Legacy Tom Lieber remains one of the most actively exhibited and internationally collected American abstract painters working today. His large-scale oils, pastels, and monotypes — with their bold calligraphic gestures, luminous color fields, and deep rootedness in the natural world — represent a sustained and fully realized vision of what abstract painting can be: physically immediate, emotionally resonant, and spiritually expansive. Collectors and institutions seeking original Tom Lieber paintings, monotypes, and works on paper will find a body of work that stands confidently alongside the greatest achievements of postwar American abstraction. Keywords: Tom Lieber, Tom Lieber painting, Tom Lieber abstract, Tom Lieber monotype...

Tom Alan Lieber, (American, born 1949), GTW #11 -7, 1986, Oil and mixed media on paper, 30.25 x 44 inches, Hand signed and dated lower right Provenance: Garner Tullis Workshop, ...

Lieber's paintings are in the permanent collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art NY, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum NY, Tate London, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, MOCALA, Bo...

Lieber's paintings are in the permanent collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art NY, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum NY, Tate London, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, MOCALA, Bo...

Tom Alan Lieber, (American, born 1949), Oil and mixed media on paper, 30.25 x 44 inches, Hand signed and dated lower right Provenance: Garner Tullis Workshop, N.Y. A bold and be...

Lieber's paintings are in the permanent collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art NY, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum NY, Tate London, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, MOCALA, Bo...

Tom Alan Lieber, (American, born 1949), GTW #11 -7, 1986, Oil and mixed media on paper, 30.25 x 44 inches, Hand signed and dated lower right Provenance: Garner Tullis Workshop, ...

Lieber's paintings are in the permanent collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art NY, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum NY, Tate London, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, MOCA LA, Bolinas Museum, Honolulu Contemporary Museum, Fleming Museum, San Jose Museum of Art, Farnsworth Museum, Tucson Museum of Art, Newport Art Museum, Mount Holyoke College Museum of Art, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Santa Fe, University of Arizona Museum of Art, De Saisset Museum, Chrysler Museum, Bloomington Art Museum, Krannert Art Museum, St. Louis Art Museum, and Evanston Art Museum. Lieber is a recipient of the Visual Artist Fellowship Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. "Hot Water" features new paintings inspired by the topography in Hawaii, where artist Tom Lieber lives and works and witnesses hot lava beautifully and violently greeting the ocean waters in spectacular fashion.

Lieber's paintings are in the permanent collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art NY, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum NY, Tate London, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, MOCALA, Bolinas Museum, Honolulu Contemporary Museum, Fleming Museum, San Jose Museum of Art, Farnsworth Museum, Tucson Museum of Art, Newport Art Museum, Mount Holyoke College Museum of Art, Bowdoin College...

This dramatic painting by Tom Lieber has hints of color popping through the blacks and whites, much more stunning in person! This painting has a walnut "floater" edge frame included. Lieber's paintings are in the permanent collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art NY, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum NY, Tate London, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, MOCALA, Bolinas Museum, Honolulu Contemporary Museum, Fleming Museum, San Jose Museum of Art, Farnsworth Museum, Tucson Museum of Art, Newport Art Museum, Mount Holyoke College Museum of Art, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Santa Fe, University of Arizona Museum of Art, De Saisset Museum, Chrysler Museum, Bloomington Art Museum, Krannert Art Museum, St. Louis Art Museum, and Evanston Art Museum. Lieber is a recipient of the Visual Artist Fellowship Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Lieber's gallery solo exhibition "Hot Water" featured new paintings inspired by the topography of Hawaii, where artist Tom Lieber lives and works and witnesses hot lava beautifully and violently greeting the ocean waters in spectacular fashion.