Leon Golub
Born – Chicago, USA 1922
Leon Golub studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, between 1946 and 1950, and lived in Paris from 1959-1964. The imposing physical presence of his contemplative images, worked on the floor in acrylic on unstretched linen, is due to their large scale and high tonality. His political paintings present a paradox between form and content; although his theme focuses on the horrors of war, such as mercenaries and interrogations, the paintings are elegant figurations with their foundations in classicism. Golub’s ideas stem from media reports of the war in Vietnam and the immediacy with which violence and the perpetrators of torture are brought into the living room. The shocking dramas that Golub reconstructs are similarly direct and confrontational. Rather than focus on the specifics of El Salvador and Nicaragua, for example, they allude to universal themes of domination and power. Even The Go-ahead, although not a scene of explicit action, is an evocative, disturbing image, with impending menace implicit in the attitudes and uniforms of the protagonist against a harsh, blood-coloured background.
Masterpieces:
- Interrogation II
- Prisoners I
Text: The A-Z of Art, Nicola Hodge and Libby Anson.
Books About leon golub
Nancy Spero & Leon Golub: War And Memory
Helaine Posner
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Leon Golub
Jon Bird
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Leon Golub: Echoes of the Real, Second Edition
Jon Bird
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