Page 265 - Masters

DAvID NEwMAN [2]
As I strolled through room after room in the magnificent Reina Sofia
museum in Madrid sometime in 2000, I could not help but “having a
dream”. I had seen the Twombly house in Houston, and I had then
imagined what it would be like to give a home to all of David’s works,
for that is what they need: air, distance from one another, distance
from the viewer, relief from the darkness of the warehouse for those
unfortunately stuck there for too long, the heat from the attic for those
who never made it to the warehouse, the crowded shelving, the pilings
where none of their characteristics could be enhanced by the logical
groupings or aesthetically pleasing arrangements.
Indeed his output – the six decades of it – can easily be chronologically
displayed, as well as arranged by related subject, similar techniques, or
many interesting combinations, each piece made more significant thru
kinship to the others, thus illustrating the artist’s virtuosity. Themes,
techniques, moods and emotions diversified through variations. It is a
very rich and long tapestry. I have always had a particular affinity for
this metaphor, having discovered the narrative and aesthetic merit of
queen Mathilde’s Tapisserie de Bayeux, a long stretch of embroidery
done in the 11th century. Imagine it rolled up! Oops! A real sin… So,
here is the dream: unravel the long sinuous road David traveled to
produce the opus. Place each work in a suitable space. I am happy
when in the course of the years I have been able to see a grouping of
his works under one roof, tenderly dusted and cherished by a collector.
This is also part of the dream.
The work constitutes an entity. A statement. It tells a story of harmony
and sanity. It also – by the nature of abstraction – lets the onlooker
imagine various interpretations – it does not control others thoughts –
only gives a point of departure – a point of contact. Time is urging me
not to ignore any of the connections that exist between our lives and
his opus. For his art was born out of a meeting of many forces.

what strikes me to this day is the absence of any preconceived
agenda.The great respect in which he held Picasso, van gogh, Crivelli,
Michelangelo, gauguin, Bonnard, as well as Jackson Pollock, kandinski,
and so on, never seemed to demand that he “should” do anything other
than what came naturally in his artistic journey.

There was a total honesty and directness to his choices. They would be
either his response to a beautiful face, an homage to a friend’s intellect,
a thank you to someone who did help financially, and the reasons would
change as life would take him through experiences such as fatherhood,
and the changes that were in order for survival.
In fact, I find his work poetic many times. Sometimes it is philosophic.
when asked in an interview, “are you an artist?” David’s response,
“No, I’m a painter. I make paintings. And I make sculptures. But an
artist, no. History will determine that. And even history, changes its
mind.“ The time is ripe for David Newman to be recognized as one of
the 20th century masters.  mOON aND sea 4, 1997 OIL ON CANvAS 24x30 IN. / 61x76 CM.
Michele Newman, the artist’s wife  sPLIt mOON 15,1997 OIL ON CANvAS 20x24 IN. / 51x61 CM. 
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masters of today