Archival Files - The Barnett Newman Foundation

The Barnett Newman Foundation holds 133 linear feet of archives related to the life and work of Barnett Newman. The files were carefully assembled by his wife, Annalee Newman, from the beginning of their marriage in 1936 and continuing through the 1990s. The archives include Newman’s personal and business correspondence, exhibition-related records and ephemera, and drafts of his writings on topics as diverse as art, politics, and civic engagement. The archives are extensive and diverse—Annalee Newman saved many types of documents, including baseball programs and hand-crafted holiday cards from artist friends. Scholars may be particularly interested in:

correspondence with fellow artists, among them Adolph Gottlieb, Robert Motherwell, Mark Rothko, and Clyfford Still
the artist’s notebooks
drafts of essays and writings
drafts of numerous “letters to the editor”
blueprints for sculpture constructions

Brochure outlining Newman's campaign for Mayor of New York City, 1933

John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship application, 1938

Newman's notes from an ornithology class, 1940

Newman's notes from a botany class, 1940

Newman’s letter to the Selective Service Board requesting classification as a conscientious objector, 1942

Draft of a letter from Newman to Adolph and Esther Gottlieb about visiting the Peabody Museum

Draft of "The Sublime Is Now," c. 1948

Hebrew edition of newspaper The Day from May 15, 1948, with banner headline declaring the creation of the State of Israel

Newman's copy of an open letter to the President of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, protesting the exclusion of "advanced art" from an upcoming survey exhibition, 1950

Letter from Donald Judd to Newman concerning a meeting hosted by the Artists Against the Expressway committee, 1969