Barnett Newman

The American artist Barnett Newman (1905–1970) is a prominent representative of Abstract Expressionism. The Kupferstichkabinett holds a complete set of his prints and, since 2014, a selection of outstanding drawings, a generous gift from the Barnett Newman Foundation.

Executed in color, the sheets dating from 1944–1945 are surprisingly playful. The subsequent black brush drawings featuring vertical bands anticipate the second period of focused graphical work in 1959–1960, when Newman scrutinized the interrelation between surfaces and “zips.” Beginning in 1961, he created prints that are in some ways an extension of his drawings and paintings while also addressing concerns intrinsic to the medium such as seriality and proportion.

The exhibition, which is complemented by selected works on loan, offers a survey of the artist’s entire graphic Oeuvre.