Ad Reinhardt

Ad Reinhardt – Life, Art, and Memorable Quotes

Explore the life and philosophy of Ad Reinhardt (1913–1967), the American abstract painter and theorist behind the “black paintings” and the maxim “Art is art and everything else is everything else.” Learn about his career, intellectual stance, and enduring influence.

Introduction

Adolph Friedrich Reinhardt (December 24, 1913 – August 30, 1967) remains a singular figure in modern American art. Though often associated with Abstract Expressionism, Reinhardt pushed abstraction to its purest extremes—ultimately advocating for an art stripped of narrative, symbolism, or external reference. He is best known for his series of “black paintings” and his theoretical writings on what he called Art-as-Art.

Reinhardt’s work is not about what we see but about seeing itself—about engaging with painting as an autonomous object. Through his reductive aesthetic, he challenged artists and audiences alike to reconsider the boundaries and essence of art.

Early Life and Education

Reinhardt was born in Buffalo, New York, but spent much of his life in New York City. Columbia University in 1931, where he studied art history under Meyer Schapiro and graduated in 1935.

After Columbia, Reinhardt studied painting under Carl Holty and Francis Criss at the American Artists School while also pursuing portraiture training at the National Academy of Design. Early in his career he resisted purely decorative or representational impulses and gravitated toward abstraction.

Artistic Career & Key Developments

Early Abstract Work and Affiliations

By the late 1930s, Reinhardt was active in the American Abstract Artists (AAA), a group promoting non-representational art in the United States.

He began exhibiting with AAA and in group shows at the Peggy Guggenheim Gallery. His first solo exhibition was in 1943 at the Artists Gallery in New York.

Reinhardt was also politically engaged in the art world. He participated in protests against institutional authority, such as designing a leaflet asking How Modern Is the Museum of Modern Art? in 1940, and participated in the “Irascibles” protest against the Metropolitan Museum in 1950.

From Color to “Black Paintings”

Reinhardt’s early abstract works explored restricted palettes—tones of red, blue, and other close-valued colors.

These “black paintings” are subtle: at first glance they appear entirely black, but careful observation reveals shifts in value and geometric forms that emerge slowly. Reinhardt intended these as “ultimate paintings”—paintings so reduced that nothing extraneous remains.

He described them as a meditation, pushing abstraction to its limit, eliminating all references to external imagery or narrative.

Teaching and Writings

From 1947 until his death, Reinhardt taught at Brooklyn College.

As a writer and theorist, he was prolific. His essays, cartoons, and manifestos are collected in Art-as-Art: The Selected Writings of Ad Reinhardt (edited by Barbara Rose). How to Look at Art, parodies of art criticism and advice literature.

Reinhardt also drew cartoons for PM (a liberal daily newspaper) during the 1940s, often satirizing the art world and advocating for purism.

He passed away suddenly in New York City of a heart attack on August 30, 1967.

Philosophy & Artistic Approach

Art-as-Art Doctrine

Reinhardt argued that art must refer only to itself—that is, the purpose of painting is painting, not symbolism, narrative, or emotional mirroring of external life. His famous slogan:

“Art is art, and everything else is everything else.”

He believed painting should avoid illusion, representation, and emotionalism—eliminating what he saw as distractions or impurities.

He often said that the best way to define abstract art is by stating what it is not—not figurative, not subjective, not illustrative.

Purity, Negativity & Reduction

Reinhardt saw art as a reductive process: gradually eliminating everything extraneous—content, symbolism, style—until only purity remains.

He often spoke of “old black and fresh black,” distinguishing between dull and lively blacks depending on how light interacts with them.

Reinhardt also held that art is negative, absolute, exclusive, and timeless—that fine art should not be subservient to politics, life, or commerce.

Legacy and Influence

Though Reinhardt was not a mainstream figure in his lifetime, his ideas deeply influenced minimal art, conceptual art, and monochrome painting.

His black paintings continue to be exhibited worldwide and provoke discussion about the limits and nature of painting itself.

In recent decades, institutions such as the Guggenheim, MoMA, and David Zwirner Gallery have organized retrospectives that emphasize both his minimalist oeuvre and his cartoons and theoretical writing.

Reinhardt is often seen today as a visionary who anticipated debates around the role of the artwork in a world saturated with meaning, symbolism, and image.

Memorable Quotes by Ad Reinhardt

Here are some of Reinhardt’s more celebrated and provocative quotations:

“Art is art, and everything else is everything else.”

“The one thing to say about art is that it is one thing. Art-as-art is nothing but art. Art is not what is not art.”

“Art is too serious to be taken seriously.”

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

“The ugliest spectacle is that of artists selling themselves. Art as a commodity is an ugly idea… The artist as businessman is uglier than the businessman as artist.”

“There is a black which is old and a black which is fresh. Lustrous black and dull black, black in sunlight and black in shadow.”

“My painting represents the victory of the forces of darkness and peace over the powers of light and evil.”

“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.”

These quotes reveal his commitment to purity, critique of the art market, and deep seriousness about the domain of painting.

Lessons from Ad Reinhardt

• Art must justify itself: Reinhardt insisted that a work of art should not depend on external references or meanings—it must stand on its own.

• The path of reduction: True innovation sometimes comes from removing everything unnecessary, not adding more.

• Maintain intellectual rigour: Reinhardt challenged artists to think rigorously about what they do, refusing illusions or sentimentality.

• Resist commerce and spectacle: He remained skeptical of the commercialization of art and of artists compromising for market appeal.

• Patience and subtlety: His black paintings demand slow looking and reflection—they reward sustained attention, not instant gratification.