Recognized as one of the originators of Abstract Expressionism, painter Adolph Gottlieb drew on mythological and tribal symbols as well as Surrealism to create works that emphatically broke with American Regionalism. Gottlieb’s pictographs possessed primitivist qualities, featuring shapes evocative of cave drawings. His later paintings, such as the well-known Brink from 1959, often employed circular motifs and thick, gestural brushstrokes, which were an integral part of the development of Color Field painting.