Elizabeth Newman: Contemporary Artists Series

The acclaimed Australian painter Elizabeth Newman joins Phaidon’s celebrated Contemporary Artists Series, the longest running series of contemporary art monographs published today Elizabeth Newman (1962–2026) was a leading figure in Australian contemporary art. Celebrated for her singularity and the emotional articulacy of her work, Newman began exhibiting in the 1980s as part of a group of women painters redefining the political and psychological dimensions of abstraction. Her work often explored expressionism, formalism, conceptualism, the monochrome, language, and the limits of what makes an artwork.After taking a few years break from her practice to study psychoanalysis, Newman later returned to art with a Lacanian approach to the concept of absence and refusal. While primarily a painter, Newman also successfully expanded her practice to other media, including sculpture, printmaking, and fabric.This publication was the last project Elizabeth Newman worked on before her premature death in 2026. Created in close collaboration with the artist, this highly anticipated book is the definitive monograph on the entire span of her work, from her early group shows with fellow women painters to her final projects. Richly illustrated, the book features Newman’s last interview with musician Francis Plagne, an extensive essay detailing the most significant episodes in her career by art critic Quentin Sprague, and a contribution by famed novelist Carrie Tiffany, plus a collection of artist’s writings selected by Newman herself.