ABSTRACT
Barnett Newman's paintings are some of the best done in the United States in the last fifteen years. At the moment, despite the difficulties of comparisons and the excellence of the work of Rothko, Noland and Stella, it's not so rash to say that Newman is the best painter in this country. The term 'Abstract Surrealism' is more or less descriptive of Newman's work then. In 1948 he painted the first painting like his work since, a small one with a stripe down the middle. Newman's first one-man show was at the Betty Parsons Gallery in 1950. Some of Newman's paintings, as well as a few earlier ones, including The Wild of 1950, an eight-foot vertical an inch and a half wide, were shown in 1962 with De Kooning's work at the Allan Stone Gallery. Many of Newman's recent paintings are black and white.
