Jericho

Barnett Newman’s Jericho: A Monument to Minimalist Power

Few works in abstract art distill the essence of visual confrontation as sharply as Barnett Newman’s Jericho. Created during a period when American painting was shedding European influences, this composition strips away ornament to reveal a raw, almost architectural presence. The painting’s vertical bands—deep reds bisected by a slender white stripe—do not merely occupy space; they command it. As the Museum of Modern Art notes, Newman’s “zips” (as he called these dividing lines) were not decorative but existential, forcing the viewer to confront the act of perception itself.

The title Jericho evokes the biblical city whose walls collapsed at the sound of trumpets—a metaphor for the way Newman’s canvases dismantle traditional pictorial space. Here, the absence of horizon or depth cues rejects illusionism entirely. Instead, the painting asserts its physicality: the edges of the color fields align with the frame, declaring the artwork as an object rather than a window. This refusal to depict anything beyond itself became a cornerstone of Abstract Expressionism’s radical break from representation.

Newman and the Sublime in Abstraction

By the late 1940s, Barnett Newman had rejected the gestural excesses of peers like Jackson Pollock, instead pursuing what he termed “the sublime is now.” His canvases—including Jericho—were not about the artist’s hand but about the viewer’s encounter with pure form. The Tate emphasizes how Newman’s work sought to eliminate “the unnecessary,” leaving only the essential elements of color, scale, and edge. This reduction was not minimalism for its own sake but a means to evoke what Newman called “the first man’s first declaration of self.”

The vertical zip in Jericho functions as a fault line, a rupture in the picture plane that refuses to resolve into harmony. Unlike Mondrian’s grids or Rothko’s floating rectangles, Newman’s divisions are abrupt, even violent. The painting’s title reinforces this: Jericho’s walls fell not through gradual erosion but through a sudden, divine intervention. In Newman’s hands, abstraction becomes a site of revelation, where the act of looking is itself the subject.

Jericho does not invite contemplation—it demands confrontation. The zip is not a seam but a wound, splitting the canvas into two irreconcilable halves that force the viewer to stand in the breach.

The Making of a Radical Composition

Color as Presence

Newman mixed his pigments to achieve a matte, almost velvety surface that absorbs light rather than reflecting it. The red in Jericho is neither warm nor cool but a neutralized crimson that hovers between blood and brick. This ambiguity prevents the color from receding into the picture plane, instead asserting its physical presence. The white zip, by contrast, is not a highlight but a void—a narrow channel of unprimed canvas that disrupts the chromatic field.

Scale and Proportion

The asymmetry of Jericho’s divisions (roughly 60/40) creates an imbalance that the eye cannot correct. Newman calculated these ratios meticulously; as he wrote in 1948, “The artist’s problem is to find the point where the specific and the universal meet.” Here, the uneven split refuses to resolve into golden-section harmony, instead maintaining a tension that activates the entire surface. The 30×40 cm format preserves this dynamic at an intimate scale, where the zip’s interruption feels immediate rather than monumental.

Where to Hang Jericho: A Guide to Placement

The bold geometry of Jericho makes it a focal point in modern interiors, but its impact depends on careful positioning. In a living room, center it at eye level above a low-profile sofa or console, where the vertical zip can dialogue with the room’s architecture. The 30×40 cm size suits a medium-scale wall (1.5–2 meters wide); avoid overcrowding with competing patterns. For color harmony, pair it with neutral tones—charcoal, taupe, or soft white—that let the red dominate without clash. In a study or library, the painting’s intellectual rigor complements dark wood shelving and leather accents, while in a minimalist bedroom, it becomes a meditative anchor above the bed.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Works by Barnett Newman

Discover the evolution of Newman’s signature style through these key compositions, each exploring the tension between color fields and disruptive “zips.”

Barnett Newman

Canto Xll

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Barnett Newman

Canto V

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Barnett Newman

Canto Xi

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Barnett Newman

Canto Viii

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