Quote of Jean-François Lyotard (1991), The Inhuman: Reflections on Time, p. 81
“

Subject matter is not.. ..eliminated from Newman's painting in any strict sense. In a monologue entitled The plastic Image (1943-45), Newman stresses the importance of subject-matter in painting. In the absence of subject-matter, he writes, painting becomes 'ornamental'.

— Jean-François Lyotard

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Subject matter is not.. ..eliminated from Newman's painting in any strict sense. In a monologue entitled The plastic Image (1943-45), Newman stresses the importance of subject-matter in painting. In the absence of subject-matter, he writes, painting becomes 'ornamental'." in the context of "Quote of Jean-François Lyotard (1991), The Inhuman: Reflections on Time, p. 81" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Quote Image
Source: Wikiquote: "Barnett Newman" (Quotes about Barnett Newman: chronologically ordered, after date of the quotes about Barnett Newman) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Barnett Newman

About Barnett Newman

Barnett Newman (29 January 1905 – 4 July 1970) was an American artist. He is seen as one of the major figures in abstract expressionism and one of the foremost of the Color Field painters.