Born in New York City in 1905, Barnett Newman grew up in
the Bronx, New York. Along with being an artist, Newman
taught in New York City public schools, and at age twenty-seven
he even attempted to run for mayor, producing a manifesto
(a public declaration of his opinion) titled, "On the Need
for Political Action by Men of Culture." Among the primary
objectives set out by this manifesto was that music and
art schools, city operas, and city museums and art galleries
should be free.
The idea
for Broken Obelisk (an obelisk is a tall, four-sided
structure that comes to a pyramidlike point) came to Newman
in 1963, but he was unable to create the work until he was
introduced to a steel manufacturer in 1967. In 1968 Newman
dedicated Broken Obelisk to the civil rights leader
Martin Luther King, Jr., who was assassinated that same year
The
lower part of the sculpture is a four-sided pyramid with
a square base. The tip of the pyramid supports the top end
of the upside-down broken obelisk. The Egyptian obelisk
is associated with the sun’s rays and the return of life,
or the sun god, Ra, at sunrise. Newman was very interested
in the Egyptians, and he had even grown up seeing an ancient
obelisk in New York City’s Central Park (installed in 1881,
it is still there today). The form of the obelisk has been
returned to again and again in Western culture, as exemplified
by the obelisk in front of St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome,
and the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C.
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Does
this information change the way you see the work? Why
or why not?
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Does
the form of Broken Obelisk say something to you?
Why or why not?
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Do
you think it’s appropriate that Newman dedicated this
work to Martin Luther King, Jr.?
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Can
you think of any monuments you’ve seen (in honor of
a person, someone anonymous, a war, or an event) that
successfully make you stop and think? If so, what makes
them stand out to you?
Broken
Obelisk is made of 6,000 pounds (3 tons) of Cor-ten
steel and is 25 feet high. Typically displayed in MoMA’s
Sculpture Garden, Broken Obelisk was placed indoors
for the exhibition Open Ends. This required a crane
and a lot of effort and care.
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Can
you think of anything else that weighs 6,000 pounds?
Now try to think of something that is 25 feet high.
Can you imagine what it might be like to stand next
to Broken Obelisk?
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Do
you think the size of this piece makes a difference?
What if it was much lighter or smaller?
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