Joseph Goldberg
Nationality: American
Affiliation: Northwest Artist
Joseph Goldberg was born in Seattle in 1947 and raised near Spokane in eastern Washington. He attended the University of Washington but quit school in 1968. He lives in Soap Lake, Washington. Goldberg began his career during the 1960's creating small landscape drawings and paintings on paper in which small shapes floated within larger planes of color. Somewhat surrealistic, these paintings leaned toward the abstraction that ultimately defined his early career. By 1975 the floating shapes became more gestural in larger works in oil or wax over linen stretched over wood panels. In the early 1980's, Goldberg perfected the technique of encaustic painting for which he became most well known. Among the holdings of the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture are one large encaustic painting from 1988, a work on paper from 1991, ten drawings from the 1960s and 1970s, and one sculpture.
Sources: Collection records, Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, Spokane. “Joseph Goldberg” [electronic document] (Seattle, Washington: Greg Kucera Gallery, accessed 16 July 2006); Internet.
Camp Arches
Date: May 20, 1977
Image Dimensions: 9 3/4 x 12 1/4 inches (support)
Medium: paper,ink,graphite
Inscription: “Joseph Goldberg,” lower right; “May 20, 1977,” upper right
Subject: abstract
Provenance: Gift of Wesley Wehr, 1990
Collection Number: 3474.6
Spider Sky
Date: 1968
Image Dimensions: 7 1/4 x 8 7/8 inches (support)
Medium: ink,colored pencil,paper,graphite,paint
Inscription: “Joseph Goldberg,” lower left; “November 1968,” lower right
Subjects: spider and landscape
Provenance: Gift of Wesley Wehr, 1990
Collection Number: 3474.1
Untitled
Date: 1968
Image Dimensions: 8 1/4 x 10 1/2 inches (support)
Medium: ink,colored pencil,graphite,paper
Inscription: “Joseph Goldberg,” lower left; “November 1968,” lower right
Subject: abstract
Provenance: Gift of Wesley Wehr, 1990
Collection Number: 3474.2
Untitled
Date: c. 1970
Image Dimensions: 8 x 8 1/2 inches (image)
Medium: ink,colored pencil,wax,graphite,paint,paper
Inscription: “Joseph Goldberg,” back; “Oct.,” lower right
Subjects: abstract and landscape
Provenance: Gift of Wesley Wehr, 1990
Collection Number: 3474.3
Untitled
Date: 1968
Image Dimensions: 9 1/4 x 11 1/2 inches (support)
Medium: graphite,paper
Inscription: “Joseph Goldberg,” back; “1968,” back
Subjects: path, sun, tree, and house
Provenance: Gift of Wesley Wehr, 1990
Collection Number: 3474.4
Untitled
Date: 1969
Image Dimensions: 11 3/8 x 9 1/4 inches (image)
Medium: paper,ink
Inscription: “Joseph Goldberg,” back; “’69,” back
Subject: abstract
Provenance: Gift of Wesley Wehr, 1990
Collection Number: 3474.5
Untitled
Date: 1968
Image Dimensions: 11 x 9 3/8 inches (image)
Medium: paper,graphite,paint,ink,crayon
Inscription: “Joseph Goldberg,” back; “1968,” back
Subject: abstract
Provenance: Gift of Wesley Wehr, 1990
Collection Number: 3474.7
Untitled
Date: 1984
Image Dimensions: 12 3/4 x 9 1/2 inches (support)
Medium: ink,paper
Inscription: “November 1984,” upper right
Subject: abstract
Provenance: Gift of Wesley Wehr, 1990
Collection Number: 3474.8
Working Sketch or Memory
Date: September, 1978
Image Dimensions: 9 1/2 x 12 1/2 inches (image)
Medium: ink,paper
Inscription: “September 1978,” top left corner; “Joseph Goldberg,” lower right corner; “Memory,” left center below image, “Numen,” right center below image
Subjects: abstract and landscape
Provenance: Transferred from the Burke Museum, University of Washington, 1993
Collection Number: 3678.24