May 2- 8, 2002

book quicks

by Andrew Ervin

Barnett Newman

By Ann Temkin, editor (Philadelphia Museum of Art/Yale University Press, $65 hardcover, $35 paperback, 351 pp.)

A great, exhaustive exhibition catalog can continue to stimulate and provoke a museum visitor for years after the art has been packed up and shipped back to the fortunate private collectors and institutions that house it full time. A poorly produced catalog, however, can diminish overnight the intellectual experience of seeing pictures in an exhibition. No matter how vibrant a painting may be, a dull photographic reproduction will often serve as the lasting impression.

Though color reproduction remains the major downfall of most art books, no such problems are in evidence in Barnett Newman, edited by Ann Temkin, a curator of modern and contemporary works at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Sure, subtle (read: exceptionally picky) differences in color can be distinguished and many tones appear slightly darker in the catalog, but overall the reproductions stand up marvelously and, back at home, will enhance your memory of the visit. There are 180 color plates in all and 87 black-and-white illustrations, many of which are not on display in the museum.

Equally important, the accompanying essays explain a great deal about what Newman was thinking, how his style developed and what his contemporary artists and critics thought of his work. The entry "Whiteout: The Not-Influence Newman Effect," by Richard Shiff, a scholar of modernism, delves into the artist's refusal to act as pedagogue and goes a long way toward explaining what you're looking at.

As in all similar art books, though, the critics have been relegated to the sidelines. The book exists to praise Newman, not bury him. And rightly so. It also includes a chronology of Newman's life, his exhibition history and a bibliography (in the off chance you require further study after this text's thorough treatment). The opportunity to spend more leisure time with Barnett Newman and grow to further appreciate his unique oeuvre makes this a valuable book indeed.

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