Curator, Ann Temkin: The obelisk is a form from ancient Egyptian art that was a memorial; and what you have here, of course, is the top of the obelisk kissing, in a sense, the top of the pyramid, another Egyptian form, its bottom jaggedly cut midway, facing upward to the sky. This is a sculpture, which stands on its head, literally.
Made in 1967, a time of great unrest in the United States, what Newman is achieving here is a memorial form, which is not a memorial to anything in particular. There is this idea of soaring aspiration unfulfilled, a lament for a time that isn’t any more one of heroes, but one of assassinations, of broken dreams, disappointments, hopes. I think it reflects Newman’s democratic, fundamentally populist political feelings, very much wanting to invent a symbol that represents everybody.