Michael

Goldberg

Born in 1924, Michael Goldberg is considered part of the “second generation” of Abstract Expressionism, though the timeline of his career parallels those of the first Action Painters. Like so many of his peers, he began serious study of art at the Art Students League of New York, leaving to serve in World War II. Also like many of the important names in mid-twentieth-century art, upon returning from service he studied painting with Hans Hofmann, a major proponent of the painterly abstraction that would lead to Abstract Expressionism. Goldberg’s “second generation” status relates to his affinity with Color Field Painting, an adaptation of the manner of expression under the Abstract Expressionist umbrella that acknowledged a metaphysical function of painting, often marrying expressive mark-making with a meditative quality and even an integration of Eastern philosophy. Goldberg exhibited widely in New York beginning in the 1950s, and continued a prolific studio practice in the following decades, eventually also teaching at the School of Visual Arts for many years.