David Newman

20th Century Modern Master

The Newman Art Gallery stands as a testament to the enduring legacy of the late artist David Newman and his devoted wife, Dr. Michèle Newman. After decades of representation by galleries both nationally and internationally, the family has established a namesake gallery in downtown Naples, Florida. This space offers a retrospective of Newman’s six-decade career, displaying a dynamic array of mediums and themes that are bold, colorful, and visually arresting.

David Newman was a multifaceted modern artist whose creative journey began with sculpting blocks of Michelangelo’s marble in Carrara, Italy, during his twenties. His early works featured figurative, biomorphic forms, subtly infused with abstract elements. Over time, his artistic expression evolved into stark, amorphic abstractions. Across the decades, common threads emerge in his work—his adoration and reverence for the human form, explorations of spiritual and religious themes, a deep sense of patriotism, and a profound connection to nature—all woven together with a masterful use of color and a distinctive sense of humor.

A contemporary of the Golden Age of abstract art, David Newman’s voice was unmistakably his own. His commitment to authenticity set him apart, as captured in a 1986 interview when he was asked what distinguished his abstract paintings. He responded: “There were a couple of things done that I hadn’t seen done before. One is the immediacy of the line. I put the line down and never touch it again. In my work, there’s a total commitment from man to a paint object total. And when I put a line down, even when it drips, I leave it alone. It’s like the creation of a line becomes a holy experience; I’m just watching this thing. The other thing I got excited about involves texture. I don’t superimpose anything. The idea is that the earth is not flat. Everything has texture in life and that texture is so real. When I look at my paintings, I sense I can touch them like a piece of sculpture. Another innovation I am involved with is negative space. There’s the world and there’s man and there’s infinite space. It’s not just art is a little decoration on the space. I’m important, but I’m not super-important. The space around me is just as important so I respect it in the picture.”

David was a polymath and an intellectual giant. He could recite passages from The Bible, Plato, Sophocles, and Nietzsche, and after meeting his beloved Michèle, he expanded his repertoire to include celebrated French philosophers. He studied the greats—from Leonardo da Vinci to Kandinsky, from Mozart to Charles Ives—while mastering anatomy, science, and mathematics. He emulated but never imitated those he admired. He was extremely productive and created many themed series including The Bible, Flags, Towers, Existential Anatomy and Texas Moons.

David found similarities between abstract painting and music, “When I use a line, to me it’s emanating from some real thing even though it’s an abstract line. You look at it long enough, you’re going to see something. And that’s the musical quality because in music, where you’re dealing with the highest level of abstraction, when you listen you glean some sense of reality, or some sense beyond reality, some specific thing or event or moment in your mind or your life. So, in art where you have a form or line or color, you’re going to be able to do that more kinetically. I feel strongly that the basic elements of art you do structure like music in its infinite variation.”

Beyond his prolific art, David authored books of poetry and plays. His insatiable curiosity, relentless discipline, and devotion to his craft imbued every endeavor with fervor, honesty, and humility. His work is a timeless reflection of a life lived with passion and purpose.

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