1. Abstract Expressionism

2. Barnett Newman: Abstraction in Painting
MoMA Abstract Expressionism Theme

3. Questions
Why might an artist choose to paint abstractly instead of representationally—depicting figures, shapes, objects, or scenes?
What kinds of choices do artists make when painting?
MoMA Abstract Expressionism Theme

4. Let’s take a look at Vir Heroicus Sublimis by Barnett Newman
Share this information with your students:
The English translation of the title is, "Man, heroic and sublime.”
Barnett Newman. Vir Heroicus Sublimis
Oil on canvas, 7' 11 3/8" x 17' 9 1/4" (242.2 x cm).
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ben Heller.
© 2012 Barnett Newman Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Barnett Newman. Vir Heroicus Sublimis
What words would you use to describe this painting?
What stylistic choices did the artist make in terms of color, composition, and subject?
MoMA Abstract Expressionism Theme

5. Let’s take a look at Vir Heroicus Sublimis by Barnett Newman
Share this information with your students:
The English translation of the title is, "Man, heroic and sublime.”
Barnett Newman. Vir Heroicus Sublimis
Oil on canvas, 7' 11 3/8" x 17' 9 1/4" (242.2 x cm).
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ben Heller.
© 2012 Barnett Newman Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Barnett Newman. Vir Heroicus Sublimis
How does the title relate to what you see?
How might the painting’s large scale relate to the title?
MoMA Abstract Expressionism Theme

6. Let’s compare Newman and Giacometti
Barnett Newman. Vir Heroicus Sublimis
How is viewing an artwork for the first time like meeting a new person?
Do you think it’s possible to reduce a human figure to abstract lines, shapes, and colors?
Share this information with your students:
Newman hoped that the viewer would stand close to this expansive work, and he likened the experience to a human encounter: "It's no different, really, from meeting another person. One has a reaction to the person physically.”
Newman admired Alberto Giacometti's thin sculptures of the human figure, and his stripes, or "zips," as he called them, may be seen as symbolizing figures against a void.
In this painting, the zips vary in width, color, and firmness of edge: the white zip at center left, for example, looks almost like the gap between separate planes, while the orange-red zip two over to its right seems to recede slightly into the red.
Barnett Newman. Vir Heroicus Sublimis
Oil on canvas, 7' 11 3/8" x 17' 9 1/4" (242.2 x cm).
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ben Heller.
© 2012 Barnett Newman Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Alberto Giacometti. Standing Woman (cast 1949).
Painted bronze, 65 3/8 x 6 1/2 x 13 1/2" (166 x 16.5 x 34.2 cm).
James Thrall Soby Bequest.
© 2012 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Alberto Giacometti, Standing Woman, 1948
MoMA Abstract Expressionism Theme

7. Questions How did Newman translate his ideas into paint?
How does this work change your perception of paint as a
tool for expressing ideas and emotions?
MoMA Abstract Expressionism Theme