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White and Hot

Date
1967
Classification
Paintings
Current Location
On View, Gallery 244
Dimensions
84 x 72 x 2 in. (213.4 x 182.9 x 5.1 cm)
framed: 84 1/4 x 72 x 2 in. (214 x 182.9 x 5.1 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Pulitzer Jr.
Rights
© 2013 Barnett Newman Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Object Number
335:1980
NOTES
In this painting, Barnett Newman flanked a brilliant orange-red field with crisp bands of white. A prominent Abstract Expressionist painter, Newman expressed spirituality through expanses of color and simplified forms. In a 1948 essay, he stated, “Instead of making cathedrals out of Christ, man or ‘life’ we are making it out of ourselves, out of our own feelings.” Abandoning the oil paint of his early work, here Newman used fast-drying acrylics to create a flat surface and precise lines, reflecting his interest in Minimalist aesthetics in the 1960s. Newman’s paintings inspired a younger generation of artists like Larry Poons, who was particularly engaged with Newman’s allover approach, which leads the eye to the canvas edge.
- 1969
M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York, NY

1969 - 1981
Joseph Pulitzer Jr. (1913-1993) and Emily Rauh Pulitzer (b.1933), St. Louis, MO, purchased from M. Knoedler & Co., Inc. [1]

1980 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, given by Joseph Pulitzer Jr. and Emily Rauh Pulitzer [2]


Notes:
[1] According to the Art Dealers Association of America appraisal form dated December 18, 1980, the Pulitzers purchased the work from M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., on August 4, 1969 [SLAM document files].

[2] Emily Rauh Pulitzer and Joseph Pulitzer Jr. gave the painting as a partial gift in 1980, and gave the remainder of the gift in 1981 [Deed of Gift, December 3, 1981, SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Acquisitions and Loans Committee of the Board of Trustees, December 19, 1980.

We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.

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