Léopold Gottlieb
1883-1934

Léopold Gottlieb was born in Drohobycz, Poland in 1883.
From 1896- 1902 he studied at the School of Fine Arts in Krakow, Poland. In 1903 he continued his studies in Munich, where he earned his living painting portraits. In 1906 he taught painting at the School of Fine Arts of Bezalel in Jerusalem, then he returned to Paris with his young wife who was a medical student.

Beginning in 1904 Gottlieb exhibited in Paris at the Salon d’Automne between1904 and 1928, the Salon Société Nationale de Beaux-Arts 1911-12, at the Salon des Tuilleries, and the Salon d’Indépendants.

Gottlieb exhibited with the Vienna Secession, and in Zurich, Berlin, and Berne. In 1912 he exhibited with other Polish artists at Gallery Dalmau in Barcelona. In 1914 it was reported the Gottlieb fought a duel with Moise Kisling, there is actually a photograph of the duel.
In the First World War he fought in the Legions de Pilsudski.
It is said he volunteered to fight on the front.

In Krakow in 1917-1919 he exhibited in group exhibitions. In 1921-1922 he participated in exhibitions of Jewish artists in Varsovie, Poland. He returned to France in 1926. He exhibited at the Salon de Franc in 1926-1929. In 1927 a monograph by André Salmon was published. In 1929 Gottlieb reunited with the group Polish group “Rythme” and exhibited with them in Poland.

He also exhibited at Les Galeries des Quatre Chemins
in Montparnasse, and Zak in 1934, where he had a one-man exhibition.

Gottlieb brought to his work many influences, Expressionism mostly, Postimpressionism, and that Eastern European fervor for freedom, a freedom expressed deeply in his work. In his portraits one can always see the artist has an intimacy with the subject.
In 2001, in an exhibition was called “l’Ecole de Paris 1904-1929,”
two of Gottlieb’s most famous portraits were exhibited, a portraits Jules Pascin and André Salmon. The exhibition was at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.

Gottlieb painted many portraits of famous people, including Diego Rivera, and Helena Rubinstien.

Gottlieb died in Paris in 1934.