"The new painter owes the abstract artist a debt for giving him his language, but the new painting is concerned with a new type of abstract thought.. .He [the new painter] is declaring that the art of Western Europe is voluptuous art first, an intellectual art by accident. He is reversing the situation by declaring that art is an expression of the mind first and whatever sensuous elements are involved are incidental to that expression. The new painter is therefore the true revolutionary, the real leader who is placing the artist's function on its rightful plane of the philosopher and the pure scientist who is exploring the world of ideas, not the world of the senses.. ..so the artist is today giving us a vision of the world of truth in terms of visual symbols."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
p. 127
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Barnett_Newman
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Barnett Newman
Barnett Newman (29 January 1905 – 4 July 1970) was an American artist. He is seen as one of the major figures in abstract expressionism and one of the foremost of the Color Field painters.
28 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Barnett Newman →
Related Quotes
"We feel that our pictures demonstrate our aesthetic beliefs, some of which we, therefore, list:"
"My idea was that with an automatic move you could create a world [Newman's comment on his series small mixed media wo…"
"..the terror to expect. Hiroshima showed it to us. The terror has indeed become as real as life."
"Let us, rather, like the Greek writers, tear the tragedy to shreds."
"[Concerning all painters] working in what is known as the abstract style: [the abstract form] is a living thing.. ..a…"
"Genesis I: 'The earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And God said, let there …"
"Short quote of Newman about his first 'Zip' paintings, c. 1946-1948"
"The subject matter of creation is chaos. The present feeling seems to be that the artist is concerned with form, colo…"
"The failure of abstract painting is due to the confusion that exists in the understanding of primitive art [as well a…"
"It was not the inexperienced art public that became American Scenists. It was the artists themselves, a highly sophis…"