Based in Urbana, Illinois, the artist Adrian Gottlieb (b. 1975) has been highly regarded in the world of contemporary realism for almost two decades. He is best known for his figurative pieces and portraiture, both official and personal, and is also admired for an uncanny ability to integrate radiant figures into realistic landscapes. Gottlieb often works directly from the live model, as well as from images taken during photoshoots he directs. What comes off his easel are people who are luminous — many seem to glow from within — and replete with both purpose and poise. Gottlieb likes to quote the story of Rembrandt’s student asking how the master knew when a painting was complete. He was told to recall the vision he had when he began the piece. When that vision was fulfilled, the painting was finished. Seeking to create what he calls a “total experience,” Gottlieb’s portraits are notably insightful, bringing us closer to the sitter through a heightened awareness of that person’s humanity.
Born and raised in Vermont, Gottlieb loved oil painting and realism from early on, but found that the basic skills he wanted to learn were not being taught at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, where he had enrolled as an undergraduate. Soon he transferred to the B.F.A. program in illustration at New York’s Rochester Institute of Technology, where his drawing skills improved quickly. In addition to independent study in anatomical drawing, Gottlieb spent three consecutive summers in Florence learning Old Master painting techniques at Charles H. Cecil studios. After this he pursued three years of graduate study at the Florence Academy of Art. Gottlieb then moved to California to teach at the Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art, after which he instructed workshop groups in his own studio for 15 years. Now he lives in Urbana, working with models, executing portrait commissions, and teaching workshops.
Gottlieb has already been commissioned to paint English nobility, religious leaders, some of the world’s foremost corporate leaders, a member of the House of Representatives, the Governor of Nevada and the same figure when he served as a district judge in that state. In addition, his work is in the collections of the families of Starbucks, Midas, various Hedge Fund Managers, and a Prince of Baharana.
