Art Institute of Chicago

Gea

Barnett Newman · 1944–45

Provenance

Ownership history

By descent to the artist's wife, Annalee Newman (1909-2000), 1948 [Shiff, Mancusi-Ungaro, and Colsman-Freyberger, 2004]; sold to the Art Institute, 1990.

Recorded by Art Institute of Chicago.

Exhibitions

Exhibition history

New York, Betty Parsons Gallery, “The Ideographic Picture,” Jan. 20–Feb. 8, 1947, cat. 7.
Hartford, Conn., Wadsworth Atheneum, “Continuity and Change: 45 American Abstract Painters and Sculptors,” Apr. 11–May 27, 1962, p. 33, cat. 101 (ill.).
New York, Museum of Modern Art, “Dada, Surrealism, and Their Heritage,” Mar. 27–June 9, 1968; also Los Angeles County Museum of Art, July 6–Sept. 8, 1968.
New York, Museum of Modern Art, “Barnett Newman,” Oct. 21, 1971–Jan. 10, 1972, p. 44, cat. 87 (ill.); also Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Mar. 30–May 22, 1972, p. 28, cat. 57 (ill.); London, Tate Gallery, June 28–Aug. 6, 1972, cat. 56; and Paris, Grand Palais, Oct. 10–Dec. 11, 1972, p. 37, cat. 56 (ill.).
Baltimore Museum of Art, “Barnett Newman: The Complete Drawings, 1944–1969,” Apr. 22–June 17, 1979, cat. 13 (color ill.); also Detroit Institute of Arts, Aug. 7–Sept. 30, 1979; Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, Nov. 2, 1979–Jan. 6, 1980; New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Feb. 12–Apr. 9, 1980; Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Sept.8–Oct. 19, 1980; and Paris, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Nov. 14, 1980–Jan. 4, 1981.
Colgone, Museum Ludwig, “Barnett Newman: Das zeichnerische Werk,” Feb. 20–Mar. 29, 1981, cat. 15 (color ill); also Basel, Kunstmuseum, May 9–July 5, 1981.
Providence, R.I., Bell Gallery, Brown University, “Flying Tigers: Painting & Sculpture in New York 1939–1946,” Apr. 27–May 27, 1985, cat. 36 (color ill.); also Worcester, Mass., Cantor Art Gallery, College of the Holy Cross, Apr. 26–May 27, 1985; and Southampton, N.Y., Parrish Art Museum, June 9–July 28, 1985.
Newport Beach, Cal., Newport Harbor Art Museum, “The Interpretive Link: Abstract Surrealism into Abstract Expressionism, Works on Paper, 1938–1948,” July 16–Sept. 14, 1986, p. 143, cat. 92 (color ill.); also New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Oct. 23, 1986–Jan. 21, 1987; and Minneapolis, Walker Art Center, Feb. 21–Apr. 19, 1987.
Art Institute of Chicago, “Contemporary Prints and Portfolios from the Permanent Collection,” April 13–Nov. 20, 1991.
New York, The Pace Gallery, "Sublime is Now: The Early Work of Barnett Newman,” Oct. 21–Nov. 26, 1994, cat. 12 (color ill.); also, Minneapolis, Walker Art Center, Mar. 20–May 29, 1994; and the Saint Louis Art Museum, July 1–Aug. 28, 1994.
Philadelphia Museum of Art, “Barnet Newman,” 2002, cat. 5, pp. 114 and 119 (ill.); shown only at London, Tate Modern, Sept. 19, 2002–Jan. 5, 2003.
Art Institute of Chicago, "Modern and Contemporary Works on Paper," July 17–Sept. 13, 2009, no cat.

Literature

Published references

Dorothy Gees Seckler, “Frontiers of Space,” Art in America, vol. 50, no. 2 (Summer 1962), p. 82 (ill.).
Thomas B. Hess, Barnett Newman (Walker and Company, 1969), pp. 27 (ill.) and 28.
Benjamin Garrison Paskus, 1942-The Theory, Art and Criticial Reception of Barnett Newman (University Microfilms, 1974), pp. 67.
David Marvin Quick, Meaning in the Art of Barnett Newman and Three of His Contemporaries: A Study of Content in Abstract Expressionism (University Microfilms, 1978).
J. Heynen, Barnett Newmans Texte zur Kunst (Georg Olms Verlag Hildesheim, 1979), p. 102.
Brenda Richardson, Barnett Newman: The Complete Drawings, 1944-1969 (Baltimore: Baltimore Museum of Art, 1979), pp. 58-9, no. 13 (color ill.).
Barnett Newman: Selected Writings and Interviews (Alfred A. Knopf, 1990), pp. 43 and 249.
Peter Schneemann, Who’s Afraid of the Word: Die Strategie der Texte bei Barnett Newman und seinen Zeitgenossen (Rombach Verlag, 1998), p. 43.
Richard Shiff, Carol C. Mancusi-Ungaro, and Heidi Colsman-Freyberger, Barnett Newman: A Catalogue Raisonne (The Barnett Newman Foundation and Yale University Press, 2004), pp. 51, 380, no. 133. (ill.).
Proceedings of the Symposium "Reconsidering Barnett Newman," Philadelphia Museum of Art, Fall 2004, pp. 168 and 174.
Claude Cernuschi, Barnett Newman and Heideggerian Philosophy (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2012), pp. 171–72, 174, and 176.

Comparables