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Barnett Newman |
Barnett Newman, Artist |
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Broken Obelisk, situated in a reflecting pool opposite The Rothko Chapel,
has been called by some art critics “the greatest American sculpture of
the twentieth century.” Acquired in 1968, the same year that Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, it is dedicated to the memory of the
civil rights leader. Barnett Newman was a friend of Mark Rothko and one of the most influential New York abstract expressionists. Like Rothko, he was beset by profound religious and philosophical concerns with which he struggled throughout his life to translate into visual form. Barnett Newman died in 1970. This Broken Obelisk is one of three in existence, the second sited in the courtyard of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the third in the quadrangle of the University of Washington, Seattle. It is 26 feet high and made of cor–ten steel. It consists of a square base plate beneath a four–sided pyramid whose tip meets and supports the upended broken obelisk. The two tips have exactly the same angle (53 degrees, borrowed from the Egyptian pyramids which had long fascinated the artist) so that their juncture forms a perfect “x.” Twentieth Century, the painting and
sculpture magazine, raises the question why this monument has such power
to stir our feelings: "Is it the daring juxtaposition of two
age–old shapes that have contrary meanings, the one symbolizing timeless
stability, the other a thrust toward the heavens? ... it speaks of our
unfulfilled spiritual yearnings, of a quest for the infinite and universal
that persists today as it did thousands of years ago.” |
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(c) 2004 Rothko Chapel. All Rights Reserved. |
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