Adolph Gottlieb (1903 - 1974) was an important painter often considered to be one of the early Abstract Expressionists. Early in the 1940s, Gottlieb developed his pictograph style which drew on mythology and primitive art, used in a rectilinear, gridlike pattern. During the 1950s, he painted abstract landscapes, which led to his second principal style, called bursts, in which sun-like, static orbs float above jagged areas. The lower element was often made up of smears, blots, and other forms characteristic of Action Painting. The paintings became simpler and more monumental and used a limited number of colors.