From Library Journal
Time has served to make the laconic visual language of Barnett Newman (1905-70) ever more enigmatic. While the size of his paintings grants them powerful presence, and they fairly throb with voluble potential, Newman's specific messages remain decidedly unspoken. Temkin, curator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Richard Shiff (C‚zanne and the End of Impressionism) do much to give these works a distinct historical voice. They also illuminate Newman himself, the man who, though a forceful figure in the art world, was often eclipsed by his contemporaries Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Clyfford Still. Intended to accompany the first retrospective exhibition of Newman's work since the 1970s (at the Philadelphia Museum of Modern Art until this July), the catalog provides a rich reconstruction of Newman's life, placing special focus on his early curatorial synergy with Betty Parsons, his related efforts to promote the artists we now recognize as the New York School, and the strong principles that informed the appearance of his paintings and sculptures. A detailed, picture-rich chronology follows the catalog. Recommended for all art collections. Savannah Schroll, Smithsonian Institution Libs., Washington, DCCopyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Newman (1905-70), the son of Jewish Polish immigrants, worked slowly and contemplatively, unlike his frenzied friend, Jackson Pollock. He made a modest number of paintings and had few major exhibitions, yet by virtue of his "shockingly minimal" paintings and eloquently radical theories about art (he was as loquacious as his paintings were quiet), was a phenomenally influential creative force. Curator Temkin, whose last book resurrected the painter Alice Neel, oversaw the first-ever posthumous retrospective of Newman's work, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and put together this marvelously evocative catalog in which stunning reproductions are matched with biographical and critical essays and other valuable documentation. Temkin and her contributors illuminate the thought and emotion that went into Newman's deceptively simple paintings, large fields of deep, textured color dramatically divided by vertical lines, or "zips." Newman's restrained yet vibrant paintings are just the sort of modern art people love to mock--in fact, he drolly collected cartoons poking fun at abstract painting--but his work, essential and transcendent, embodies a genuine quest for liberty and spiritual insight. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Robert Leiter, Jewish Exponent
An exquisite catalogue raisonné. . . . [A] lovely object in and of itself, and well worth the price.


Book Description
Barnett Newman (1905-1970) was one of the most profound and influential artists of the twentieth century. A master of expansive spatial effects and evocative color, he pioneered painting that was both abstract and emotive, suffused with powerful philosophical and spiritual meaning. This landmark book surveys the breadth of Newman's career from his founding role in the New York School in the 1940s to his key influence on both minimalism and conceptual art in the 1960s. Featuring more than 100 of his paintings, drawings, prints, and sculptures, the book also offers significant new scholarly findings based on the archives of the Barnett Newman Foundation. Despite the apparent simplicity of his signature, the "zip," Newman's art is richly complicated and unexpectedly diverse. His works include such masterpieces as Onement 1 (1948), the series Stations of the Cross (1958-66), and the monumental sculpture Broken Obelisk (1967). Each work of art in this book is reproduced in full color and accompanied by its own entry. A comprehensive chronology of the artist's life based on new documentation, a selected bibliography, and a selected exhibition history complete the volume.


From the Publisher
This book accompanies the first retrospective exhibition of Barnett Newman's work in three decades. The show will be on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art from March 24 to July 7, 2002, and will appear at the Tate Modern in London from September 19, 2002 to January 5, 2003. Published in association with the Philadelphia Museum of Art


About the Author
Ann Temkin is The Muriel and Philip Berman Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

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 misunder stood 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.

This landmark book accompanies the first comprehensive exhibition of Barnett Newman's work in three decades. Two groundbreaking essays by prominent scholars survey Newman's carrer from his founding role in the New York School in the 1940s to his key influence on both Minimalism and conceptual art in the 1960s. Discussed at length are such Newman masterpieces as Onement 1 (1948), the series Stations of the Cross (1958-66), and the monumental sculpture Broken Obelisk (1967). Featuring 180 color illustrations of his paintings, drawings, prints, and sculptures, the book also includes a comprehensive chronology of the artist's life based on new documentation, a selected exhibition history, and a selected bibliography.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal