Michael Goldberg
Michael Goldberg (December 24, 1924 – December 31, 2007[1]) was an American abstract expressionist painter and teacher known for his gestural action paintings, abstractions and still-life paintings. A retrospective show, "Abstraction Over Time: The Paintings of Michael Goldberg", was shown at MOCA Jacksonville in Florida from 9/21/13 to 1/5/14. His work was seen in September 2007 in a solo exhibition at Knoedler & Company in New York City, as well as several exhibitions at Manny Silverman Gallery in Los Angeles.
Michael Goldberg

Luc Matthiessen · This is a photo of my uncle painter Michael Goldberg. This photo was taken by his step son Luc Matthiessen who is dead. · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Name
- Michael Goldberg
- Born
- 24 December 1924
- Birthplace
- Bronx, New York
- Died
- 31 December 2007
- Known for
- Painting
- Training
- Art Students League of New York
- Movement
- Abstract expressionism
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- painter · illustrator
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Michael Goldberg (December 24, 1924 – December 31, 2007[1]) was an American abstract expressionist painter and teacher known for his gestural action paintings, abstractions and still-life paintings. A retrospective show, "Abstraction Over Time: The Paintings of Michael Goldberg", was shown at MOCA Jacksonville in Florida from 9/21/13 to 1/5/14. His work was seen in September 2007 in a solo exhibition at Knoedler & Company in New York City, as well as several exhibitions at Manny Silverman Gallery in Los Angeles.
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In this article
Biography
Biography
Additionally, a survey of Goldberg's work is exhibited at the University Art Museum at California State University, Long Beach since September 2010.
Michael Goldberg studied at Art Students League of New York. The field of work recorded is painting. Places of work recorded in the authority are New York City. Work by Michael Goldberg is recorded in the collections of Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Modern Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, University of Kentucky Art Museum and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Michael Goldberg served in Army during WW2 - this might be Guam 1945
Found this in my uncle's (Michael Goldberg) personal photos.

Michael Goldberg served in Army during WW2 from 1942 to 1945 - this might be North Africa 194
Found this in my uncle's (Michael Goldberg) personal photos.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Michael Goldberg • Born — 24 December 1924 • Birthplace — Bronx, New York • Died — 31 December 2007 • Known for — Painting • Training — Art Students League of New York • Movement — Abstract expressionism • Illustration — Photo of Michael Goldberg in 222 Bowery studio taken by Goldberg's stepson Lucas Matthiessen in 1966. • Illustration — front of 222 Bowery - Michael Goldberg's studio is on the 2nd floor • Illustration — Buzzer of 222 Bowery that includes names of poets and artists: Michael Goldberg, Lynda Benglis, poet John Giorno, artist Lynn Umlauf (wife of Michael Goldberg). The Bunker was home of beat writer William Burroughs. • Illustration — Michael Goldberg approx 18 years old basic training or North Africa around 1942 • Illustration — Michael Goldberg during WW2 with Air Crew - Goldberg on the far left
Biography
Biography
A veteran of World War II, Goldberg was one of the last few remaining survivors of the New York School;[2] he was sometimes referred to as a member of the so-called "second generation" of Abstract Expressionists, although he began exhibiting his action paintings in important group shows in galleries in New York City in the early 1950s. Goldberg began taking classes at the Art Students League of New York at age 14. In the 1950s he studied painting with Hans Hofmann, and he discussed painting with Willem de Kooning, Lee Krasner, Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, Mark Rothko and several others of the New York School[4] sometimes at The Eighth Street Club,[5] a regular meeting place of modern artists working in and around Tenth Street in New York[6] and sometimes at the Cedar Bar.[7] He began to exhibit his paintings in New York City during the early 1950s, and some of his abstract expressionist peers included artists like Joan Mitchell, Alfred Leslie, Grace Hartigan, Helen Frankenthaler, Knox Martin, Friedel Dzubas, Norman Bluhm, and Sam Francis among others. Goldberg came into prominence in the late 1950s, early 1960s just as Color field painting, Hard-edge painting and Pop Art emerged onto centerstage. With the changing of fashions in the art world; his greatest accomplishments as a painter weren't sufficiently recognized; and as many of his generation his work was overlooked for many years. He was known in early 1950's for an affair with the poet and playwright Violet Ranny Lang and is celebrated in her play "Fire Exit," as told in Alison Lurie's memoir V.R. Lang, Poems & Plays, with a Memoir by Alison Lurie. Although by the 1970s and 1980s his work began to achieve recognition and appreciation and he enjoyed a long, successful and a celebrated career as an abstract painter. His work like others of the abstract expressionist generation expressed a painterly integration of Western metaphysics and Eastern philosophy. Throughout his long career and into his mature years, he continued to teach, paint, and exhibit his work. His classes at the School of Visual Arts were well attended by devoted students, and admirers. He lived with his wife and longtime companion, the late artist Lynn Umlauf, who also taught at the School of Visual Arts. He died in Manhattan of a heart attack. He is also survived by his brother, the writer Gerald Jay Goldberg.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1924
Michael Goldberg born at New York City.
2007
Michael Goldberg died at New York City.
Books and catalogs
• Sandler, Irving H. The New York School: The Painters and Sculptors of the Fifties, New York: Harper & Row, 1978.[3] * • Illustration — Michael Goldberg served in Army during WW2, this is Guam 1944-1945 Schimmel, Paul Action Precision: The New Direction In New York 1955-60, Newport Harbor Museum, 1984. • Sandler, Irving H. Abstract Expressionism in the United States, Centro Cultural Arte Contemporaneo, A.C., Mexico, 1996 • Marika Herskovic, American Abstract Expressionism of the 1950s An Illustrated Survey, (New York School Press, 2003.). pp. 138–141 • Marika Herskovic, New York School Abstract Expressionists Artists Choice by Artists, (New York School Press, 2000.). p. 8; p. 16; p. 37; pp. 150–153 • Anfam, David, Perpetual Motion: Michael Goldberg, University Art Museum, College of the Arts, California State University, Long Beach, 2010.
Collections
Goldberg's work is in the collections of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Chrysler Museum of Art, the Walker Art Center, the Museum of Modern Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Muscarelle Museum of Art and many others.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Glueck, Grace. Michael Goldberg, abstract expressionist painter. The Boston Globe. 2008-01-09.
- 2.Sandler, Irving H. The New York School: The Painters and Sculptors of the Fifties, New York: Harper & Row, 1978. pp.29-45
- 3.Marika Herskovic, New York School Abstract Expressionists Artists Choice by Artists, (New York School Press, 2000.) pp.150-153
- 4.Sandler, Irving H. The New York School: The Painters and Sculptors of the Fifties. Harper & Row. 1–29. 1978. 978-0-06-438505-3.
- 5.Marika Herskovic, New York School Abstract Expressionists Artists Choice by Artists, (New York School Press, 2000.) p.11
- 6.University of Kentucky Art Museum, retrieved January 4, 2008
- 7.Sandler, Irving H. The New York School: The Painters and Sculptors of the Fifties, New York: Harper & Row, 1978. pp.2-29
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Michael Goldberg worked in painting. His work is associated with abstract expressionism. He belonged to Stalke Galleri. He worked at New York City.
Career and activity
Recognition and collections
Work by Michael Goldberg is
Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Modern Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum and University of Kentucky Art Museum
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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