Barnett Newman

Barnett Newman was an American painter known for his contributions to the Abstract Expressionist movement. Born in 1905 in New York City, Newman studied philosophy at the City College of New York and later worked in his father's clothing manufacturing business. He began painting in the 1930s, but it was not until the 1940s that he developed his signature style, characterized by large fields of color separated by thin vertical lines, which he called "zips." Newman's work is often interpreted as an exploration of the sublime and the human condition, and he sought to create art that could evoke a sense of awe and transcendence.

Newman's first solo exhibition was held at the Betty Parsons Gallery in New York in 1950, and he quickly gained recognition as a leading figure in the Abstract Expressionist movement. His work was included in the seminal 9th Street Art Exhibition in 1951, which showcased the work of many prominent Abstract Expressionists, including Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko. Newman's paintings are characterized by their large scale and use of monochromatic color fields, which he believed could evoke a sense of the infinite and the eternal.

One of Newman's most famous works is the painting Vir Heroicus Sublimis, which was created in 1950-51 and is now in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The painting is over 18 feet wide and features a bright red field of color with several thin vertical lines, or "zips," that divide the canvas. Newman's work has been the subject of numerous retrospectives and exhibitions, including a major retrospective at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2002. He died in 1970, but his work continues to be influential and is held in the collections of many major museums around the world.