Barnett Newman
Here
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Princeton University Press
Publishing:6th Jan '26
£35.00
This title is due to be published on 6th January, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
The definitive biography of a transformational American artist and the city that shaped him
Barnett Newman (1905–1970), a founding member of the abstract expressionist movement, was a contemporary of such figures as Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, and Clyfford Still. He left behind only 118 finished paintings, six sculptures, and 83 acknowledged drawings, yet is often regarded as the greatest painter to have emerged after the Second World War. Barnett Newman is the definitive biography of a charismatic New Yorker who defied the rules and created an art of the sublime.
This landmark book features original research conducted over decades, using scores of interviews, oral histories, and previously unseen correspondence to paint a richly textured portrait of a creative sage who became an exemplar of the artist-citizen. Born in New York to Polish Jewish immigrant parents, he grandly aspired to involve himself in every detail of the city’s life. He was a crusader for the civil service, ran against La Guardia for mayor, worked as a teacher, wrote poetry, criticism, and manifestos, produced political plays, and promoted other artists—all before painting a mature work of his own in his early forties. Newman began with none of the qualities once considered indispensable for a master artist, such as training, apprenticeship, or natural facility. But he possessed a galvanizing intellect and a conviction that aesthetic expression is an ecstatic declaration of existence and an assertion of human dignity.
Drawing on previously unpublished sources gleaned from full access to Newman’s archives, Amy Newman presents a portrait of a maverick whose works are among the most enduring of the twentieth century and whose influence continues to this day.
"A comprehensive biography of abstract expressionist Barnett Newman (1905-1970): educator, poet, political activist, New York mayoral candidate...and, for the last 25 years of his life, a groundbreaking artist.... [Amy] Newman reveals the genesis, details, and reception of [his] paintings and sculptures... grounding the work not only in [his] life, but in the energetic postwar art world. An impressive, nuanced study." * Kirkus, starred review *
"[Barnett Newman: Here] skillfully charts the artist’s improbable path to success. Especially welcome are [Amy Newman's] efforts to distinguish the true chronology of Newman’s career from his retrospective tendencies toward self-mythologizing. Thoroughly explored too are the ways the painter’s Judaism informed his self-understanding as an artist and influenced his choices of titles and themes.... essential reading for those interested in understanding both the man and his work." * Library Journal *
"Art historian Newman (no relation) had unique access to the artist’s extensive archive and devoted more than 15 years to creating the first comprehensive biography of this intriguingly volatile and charismatic artist. With perpetual detail and intricate insights, she deftly covers Barney’s family history, deep feelings about being Jewish, voracious reading, arts education, and reliance for many years on his smart and heroically hard-working wife, Annalee, to support them....[this] vibrant magnum opus gloriously reveals Barnett Newman in full." * Booklist, starred review *
"An in-depth and definitive account of the artist's complex life and work.... [Barnett Newman: Here] tirelessly explores the artist’s unique life, and his convictions that art was a sort of salvation"---Lauren Moya Ford, Glasstire
"Across 700-plus pages, [Amy Newman, no relation] thrillingly explores Newman’s vexed relationship to his religion, which shaped his entire worldview, even as he exhibited certain later paintings under names derived not from the Torah but Christian texts such as the New Testament."---Alex Greenberger, Art in America
"Newman’s relationship to his religion is at the core of Amy Newman’s remarkable new book, Barnett Newman: Here.... Almost from the start, [the biography] ensures that the connection between the artist and his Jewish identity is clear. Amy Newman salts her lush prose with Yiddish words—geshray, meaning “yell,” appropriately recurs throughout the book—as she spends time elucidating this artist’s vexed spirituality.... Amy Newman.... is a vibrant storyteller.... [and] an inquisitive biographer."---Alex Greenberger, ARTNews
ISBN: 9780691249186
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
728 pages