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<\/h1>\n<\/h1>\nBarnett Newman was born in the early 1900\u2019s and worked steadily as a colorfield painter in the first major avant-garde art movement known as abstract expressionism, a period of postwar art. Newman\u2019s art often investigates the symbols of Jewish mysticism while playing with the use of color and investigating how it changes. His signature device and artistic trademark can be defined as a \u201czip\u201d, what he defines as a vertical line of color that represents a single ray of light and divine action. <\/p>\n
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For Newman, Onement<\/i> is viewed as a breakthrough that would carry through to much of his later work. This work features the first use of the \u201czip\u201d, a vertical line of orange that both separates and unites either red side of this piece. The title, Onement<\/i>, is said to have been influenced by the medieval term which means \u2019to unite\u2019. Later this term evolved into religious contexts known as \u201catonement\u201d, interpreted as the act of amends for sin and\/or the Atonement of God and man through Jesus. Defining this term makes creates two clear ideas that stem directly Newman’s from intentions and artistic statements. Firstly, Newman expresses that these \u201czips\u201d do not divide the canvas, but merge outer sides \u2013 this reasoning stands as the interpretation for the antiquated term that is \u201conement\u201d. Additionally, when we interpret the modern use of the word, \u201catonement\u201d, we can clearly delineate the religious context of Newman\u2019s exploration of Jewish mysticism. <\/p>\n
Newman’s canvas seems to be both united and divided by the centered ‘zip’; the compositional arrangement of color and line could be read as a diptych in this particular piece. It is clear that Newman had intended to united the outer sides with the ‘zip’. In like manner, The Garden of Earthly Delights <\/em>has various compositional readings. Though Bosch’s work was indeed intended to be in a polytych format, the mixed interpretations convey a message similar to that of Newman especially when contemplating concepts of morality and religion. <\/p>\n “I hope that my painting has the impact of giving someone, as it did me, the feeling of his own totality, of his own separateness, of his own individuality, and at the same time of his connection to others, who are also separate, . . .I think you can only feel others if you have some sense of your own being” (Newman, p. 257-58).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\nNewman on ‘Onement I’ and Content<\/h1>\n