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Abstract

In 1970, American Abstract Expressionist artist Barnett Newman (1905-1970) stated that if his “paintings were properly understood, it would be the end of state capitalism and authoritarianism.” Literature on the artist spans from formalist analyses that ignore the social and political import of Newman’s work to more robust considerations that include social analysis, biography, and formalist considerations. Very few scholars, however, approach Newman’s work with an avowal of his anarchism, which is a necessary precondition to understanding his work on his own terms. This research has three main aims. Firstly, to understand the philosophical and social historical roots of Newman’s anarchism. Secondly, to establish the anarchism present in the formal operation of Newman’s “zip” paintings by focusing on elements of non-fixity in a procedural rather than merely formal register. Thirdly, to understand why Newman felt these works could dismantle state capitalism and authoritarianism. I am guided throughout this research by the extensive writings of Newman himself. The artist laid out, through essays, correspondence, and interviews, the horizon of meaning that his paintings understood in their social, political, and historical context. In Chapter One, “Situating Newman,” I position my research in the existing literature by looking to art historians Richard Shiff and Yve-Alain Bois, who employ different, but equally rigorous analyses of Newman’s work and whose analyses remain dominant in the discourse. In this chapter, I also consider Newman’s social and historical context by examining his writing about the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which necessitated a paradigmatic shift in his art and life. From this, Newman’s idea of the “plasmic image” is revealed. In Chapter Two, “Newman’s Library,” I turn to two of the thinkers that influenced Newman the most, namely Russian anarchist Pyotr Kropotkin (1842-1941) and Dutch philosopher Baruch de Spinoza (1632-1677) within a contemporary, secularised discussion mediated by Jason Read’s idea of “transindividuality.” Having considered the social, philosophical, historical, and art historical context of Newman’s zip paintings, I argue that they can finally be approached in a way that would fulfil Newman’s enigmatic words.