1. Barne&
Newman
(1905-­‐1970)
Barne&
Newman’s
approach
to
pain3ng
was
deeply
intellectual
Irving
Penn,
Barne&
Newman,
1966

2. Barne&
Newman
(1905-­‐1970)
“We
are
reasser3ng
man’s
natural
desire
for
the
exalted,
for
a
concern
with
our
rela3onship
to
the
absolute
emo3ons”
Barne&
Newman
Image
source:
h&p://theoldmistressesandme.wordpress.com/

3. Barne&
Newman
(1905-­‐1970)
“Whatever
is
fi&ed
in
any
sort
to
excite
the
ideas
of
pain
and
danger,
that
is
to
say,
whatever
is
in
any
sort
terrible,
or
is
conversant
about
terrible
objects,
or
operates
in
a
manner
analogous
to
terror,
is
a
source
of
the
sublime;
that,
is,
it
is
produc3ve
of
the
strongest
emo3on
which
the
mind
is
capable
of
feeling.
I
say
the
,strongest
emo3on,
because
I
am
sa3sfied
the
ideas
of
pain
are
much
more
powerful
than
those
which
enter
on
the
part
of
pleasure.”
Edmund
Burke,
A
Philosophical
Inquiry
into
the
Origins
of
our
ideas
of
the
Sublime
and
BeauDful,
1756
Caspar
David
Friedrich,
The
Wanderer
Above
the
Sea
of
Fog,
1818,
Kunsthalle
Hamburg

4. Barne&
Newman
(1905-­‐1970)
The
Beau3ful
=
pleasure
The
Sublime
=
an
encounter
with
the
“infinite”
that
reminds
of
our
insignificance
and
mortality
Barne&
Newman,
Pagan
Void,
1946
Philadelphia
Museum
of
Art

5. Barne&
Newman
(1905-­‐1970)
Breakthrough
came
with
Onement
I
–
painted
on
his
birthday
1948
“
.
.
.
.
I
painted
it
on
my
birthday
(January
29)
in
1948.
It's
a
small
red
pain3ng,
and
I
put
a
piece
of
tape
in
the
middle,
and
I
put
my
so-­‐called
zip.”
Allen
Memorial
Museum
Barne&
Newman,
Onement
I,
1948
Museum
of
Modern
Art

6. Barne&
Newman
(1905-­‐1970)
Newman
likened
the
canvas
to
the
primordial
void
“"[I]t
can
be
said
that
the
ar3st
like
a
true
creator
is
delving
into
chaos.
It
is
precisely
this
that
makes
him
an
ar3st,
for
the
Creator
in
crea3ng
the
world
began
with
the
same
material-­‐-­‐for
the
ar3st
tried
to
wrest
truth
from
the
void.”
Barne&
Newman,
“ The
Plasmic
Imag,”
1945
Jackson
Pollock
in
front
of
a
blank
canvas

7. Barne&
Newman
(1905-­‐1970)
The
“zip”
is
the
primal
moment
of
crea3on
“For
Newman
and
for
subsequent
art
historians,
Onement
I
(he
added
the
ordinate
aher
1948)
was
a
momentous
enactment
of
pain3ng
as
a
"tabula
rasa,"
a
primal
site
or
instance
of
"crea3on"
in
various
senses
of
the
term.”
Allen
Memorial
Museum
Barne&
Newman,
Onement
I,
1948
Museum
of
Modern
Art

8. Barne&
Newman
(1905-­‐1970)
“Onement
I
symbolizes
Genesis.
It
is
an
act
of
crea3on
and
division.
Newman’s
zip
down
the
middle
evokes
God’s
separa3on
of
light
and
darkness,
a
line
drawn
in
the
void.
Like
the
Old
Testament
god,
the
ar3st
starts
with
chaos,
with
the
void
.
.
.
.
The
zip
is
the
primal
act.”
Jonathan
Fineberg,
p.
101
Barne&
Newman,
Onement
I,
1948
Museum
of
Modern
Art

9. Barne&
Newman
(1905-­‐1970)
“The
La3n
3tle
of
this
pain3ng
can
be
translated
as
"Man,
heroic
and
sublime."
.
.
.
Newman
hoped
the
viewer
would
stand
close
to
his
expansive
work,
and
he
likened
the
experience
to
a
human
encounter.
“
Museum
of
Modern
Art
Barne&
Newman,
Vir
Heroicus
Sublimus,
1950-­‐1
7'
11
3/8"
x
17'
9
1/4"
Museum
of
Modern
Art

10. Barne&
Newman
and
an
uniden3fied
viewer
with
Cathedra
in
Newman's
studio,
1958.
Photo
Peter
A.
Juley
Image
source:
h&p://www.artnet.com/Magazine/index/tuchman/tuchman4-­‐8-­‐3.asp

11. Image
source:
h&p://www.flickr.com/photos/javierucles/212609489/