Author Description

One of the most enduringly influential Abstract Expressionists, Barnett Newman (1905-1970) took the genre to a startling new sphere. His tough, spare, emotive paintings were misunderstood and reviled by most critics when they first appeared in 1950 but came to command wide respect and even veneration by the end of the 1960s. Seemingly simple on first viewing, the paintings are in fact richly complicated and unexpectedly diverse. Newman aspired to breadth and nobility in his works, infusing them with deep meaning and producing a powerful physical presence through his mastery of expansive spatial effects and evocative color. While pursuing his personal quest, he managed to challenge, and profoundly change, the parameters of painting.