Ad Reinhardt

American painter and printmaker

Adolph Friedrich Reinhardtwas an abstract painter and Art theorist active in New York City for more than three decades. As a theorist he wrote and lectured extensively on art and was a major influence on conceptual art, minimal art and monochrome painting.

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About the Ad Reinhardt

Adolph Friedrich Reinhardtwas an abstract painter and Art theorist active in New York City for more than three decades. As a theorist he wrote and lectured extensively on art and was a major influence on conceptual art, minimal art and monochrome painting.

Most famous for his “black” or “ultimate” paintings, he claimed to be painting the “last paintings” that anyone can paint. He believed in a philosophy of art he called Art-as-Art and used his writing and satirical cartoons to advocate for abstract art and against what he described as “the disreputable practices of artists-as-artists”.

He was a member of the American Abstract Artistsand part of the movement centered on the Betty Parsons Gallery that became known as Abstract Expressionism. He was also a member of The Club, the meeting place for the New York School abstract expressionist artists during the 1940s and 1950s.

8 Quotes by Ad Reinhardt

  1. 1.

    The job at Brooklyn is interesting because Brooklyn reflects what happened to university art departments everywhere. It might be the worst department now, and yet at one point it was the best in the country.

    Ad Reinhardt

    American painter and printmaker

  2. 2.

    Only a bad artist thinks he has a good idea. A good artist does not need anything.

    Ad Reinhardt

    American painter and printmaker

  3. 3.

    I tried to oppose the academic to the marketplace.

    Ad Reinhardt

    American painter and printmaker

  4. 4.

    Art is too serious to be taken seriously.

    Ad Reinhardt

    American painter and printmaker

  5. 5.

    If some student came up and wanted to know where to study painting, you’d want to suggest someplace, but there’s no place. I wouldn’t know where to send a student to study.

    Ad Reinhardt

    American painter and printmaker

  6. 6.

    I taught a lot of art history, especially Chinese, Japanese, and Indian. But the painting classes came back. The nudes came back. Not so much the still lifes. So now our department is the worst department, partly because it has the worst facilities.

    Ad Reinhardt

    American painter and printmaker

  7. 7.

    Now almost every artist outside of New York is connected with some school or some museum school, and even in New York the majority are. That’s an interesting fact when you take the idea of making money, making a living selling paintings. Only a dozen or two painters do that.

    Ad Reinhardt

    American painter and printmaker

  8. 8.

    Art is Art. Everything else is everything else.

    Ad Reinhardt

    American painter and printmaker