Harry Gottlieb received his training at the Minneapolis School of Art, specializing in design. He began his career in New York as a wallpaper designer. After a few months he became a stage manager and scene designer in Provincetown. He then settled in Woodstock, New York and began painting. He was on the Federal Art Project both in Woodstock and in New York City. In 1931 he received the Guggenheim Fellowship and spent the next year traveling abroad. His work is in the Whitney Museum of American Art, Museum of Modern Art as well as several other smaller museums and university collections. In addition he was the first director of The American Artists School (1936-7) and president of the Artist's Union, an organization that lobbied for federal support for artists.