Nov 26, 2014
May 25, 2010
Nov 26, 2014

Untitled

Untitled

1959

Barnett Newman

(American, 1905–1970)

Brush and black ink on cream wove paper

Support: Cream wove paper

Sheet: 53.5 x 61.1 cm (21 1/16 x 24 1/16 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1986.4

Catalogue raisonné: Shiff 178

Location

Did you know?

Newman made this drawing just after a decade-long period during which he had not worked at all on paper.

Description

A pioneer of abstract painting, Barnett Newman developed his own severe, minimal style around 1945 and spent the rest of his career working within a strict vocabulary of form. He focused on the "zip," the long vertical element extending from top to bottom on his canvases. This important drawing is related to a series of fourteen paintings that he named The Stations of the Cross (National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC), perhaps his greatest achievement. In many ways the paintings are like large drawings, and this work has much in common with them, using the same vocabulary of positive black and negative white forms to declare space.

See also

Contact us

The information about this object, including provenance, may not be currently accurate. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@clevelandart.org.

To request more information about this object, study images, or bibliography, contact the Ingalls Library Reference Desk.

All images and data available through Open Access can be downloaded for free. For images not available through Open Access, a detail image, or any image with a color bar, request a digital file from Image Services.