Michael Goldberg

MICHAEL GOLDBERG (New York, 1924–2007).
“Untitled.”
Hand-painted, modified glass centerpiece.
One-of-a-kind piece.
Signed.
Provenance: Galerie Moderne Silkeborg, Denmark.
Measurements: 97 cm in diameter.

Large in scale and conceived as a unique piece, this work documents a lesser-known yet fully established aspect of Michael Goldberg’s oeuvre: his compositions on glass. Galerie Moderne Silkeborg, the work’s source, has documented various glass works by the artist, confirming the scope of his artistic exploration of a medium that allowed him to explore material, transparency, and color in a different way.

Goldberg brings to glass techniques closely linked to his painting: the superimposition of forms, intense color hallmarks, and a deliberately dynamic organization of space. Against an amber-colored and partially translucent background, angular structures in black, red, yellow, and green intersect, their irregular edges and varying densities evoking overlapping fragments. The composition thus takes on a logic akin to collage, a technique the artist also employed in his works on paper and which allowed him to juxtapose gesture and structure within the same surface.

The medium itself plays a decisive role. The transparency of the glass alters the perception of the chromatic layers and causes the uncovered areas to actively participate in the composition, while the circular format eliminates the conventional orientation of the rectangular canvas. The painting thus takes on an object-like dimension: it is not limited to occupying a surface but engages in a dialogue with the material’s physical and luminous qualities. This openness to different media is consistent with a career marked by technical experimentation; the National Gallery of Art holds, among other works by Goldberg, compositions in which he combines oil, graphite, pastel, and collage.

The uniqueness of the medium and the scale allow us to appreciate particularly well how Goldberg transferred the principles of his abstract vocabulary to an autonomous object, maintaining the gestural energy of his painting while simultaneously exploring the specific possibilities of glass.

Michael Goldberg was a leading figure of the second generation of American Abstract Expressionism. Trained at the Art Students League and under Hans Hofmann, he participated in the historic 1951 Ninth Street Exhibition and was closely associated with the New York School, alongside artists such as Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, and Joan Mitchell. Throughout his career, he expanded his painterly practice through collage, printmaking, and other media—an openness that is particularly relevant to understanding this piece. His work is included in major international collections, including the MoMA, the Whitney Museum, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington.