Exercise 4.2

Read the text of Newman’s essay in Art in Theory and write a short summary (200 words).

In the essay ‘The first man was an artist’ (1947) by Barnett Newman, Newman argues that the original man was born an artist and poet as opposed to a social animal. Man’s first experience was aesthetic and his speech was ‘a poetic outcry’ rather than a need for communication. His first cry was a song and his address to a neighbour was a cry not a request. Men built idols out of mud before they built axes or pottery – the manual products of civilisation.

Newman prioritises the aesthetic over the social. The first humans were ‘artists before they were hunters, storytellers before scientists.’ The creative mind came before utilitarian instincts in a desire to find meaning/truth in the world (Kirkpatrick, 2010). Newman references Christianity and suggests that in the Genesis, Adam sought a creative life by eating from the tree. He wanted to be a creator like God but as a punishment he was reduced to a life of toil.

The fall of man is due to our inability to live the ‘life of a creator’. Artists today strive for a closer approach to the truth concerning the original man. They are driven to be a painter and poet in our natural human state, in defiance of scientific reasoning which restricts creativity and holds us back (Kirkpatrick, 2010).

Reflections

At the heart of Newman’s essay is the fact that the creative human is a natural state of being that we all have. All children will draw freely and without inhibition but, as we grow older, a society based on science and reasoning blocks and stunts this creative outlet. Artists, poets, writers and musicians all strive to release that pure creativity that we seem to have lost.

Bibliography

Kirkpatrick, M. (2010) Review of the First Man was An Artist http://mattkirkpatrick.blogspot.com/2010/03/review-of-newman.html (accessed 02/05/2020)

Newman, B. (1947) The first man was an artist from Tiger’s Eye (New York) No.1 (October 1947)pp.59-60 At http://theoria.art-zoo.com/the-first-man-was-an-artist-barnett-newman/ (Accessed 02/05/2020)

https://www.theartstory.org/artist/newman-barnett/life-and-legacy/ (Accessed 02/05/2020)