Arnold Newman
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Arnold Abner Newman (3 March 1918, New York, NY —6 June 2006, New York, NY) was an American photographer noted for his "environmental portraits" of artists and politicians. He was also known for his carefully composed abstract still life images.
[edit] Early life and career
Newman graduated high school in Miami Beach and attended the University of Miami studying painting and drawing with an introduction to Modernism. Unable to afford continuing after two years, he moved to Philadelphia, PA to work for a studio making 49-cent portraits. His time there taught the importance of interacting with his subjects and allowed him to developed his technique.
[edit] Success as photographer
Newman returned to Florida in 1939 to manage a portrait studio in West Palm Beach. Three years later he opened his own business in Miami Beach. In 1946, Newman relocated to New York, opened Arnold Newman Studios and worked as a freelance photographer for Fortune, Life, and Newsweek.
Newman found his vision in the empathy he felt for artists and their work. Although he photographed many personalities — Marlene Dietrich, John F. Kennedy, Harry S. Truman, Piet Mondrian, Pablo Picasso, Arthur Miller, Marilyn Monroe, Ronald Reagan and Mickey Mantle — he maintained that even if the subject is not known, or is already forgotten, the photograph itself must still excite and interest the viewer.
Newman's is often credited with being the first photographer to use so-called environmental portraiture in which the photographer places the subject in a carefully controlled setting to capture the essence of the invididual's surroundings with representative visual elements showing their professions and personalities. A musician for instance might be photographed in their recording studio or on stage, a Senator or other politician in their office or a representative building. Using a large-format camera and tripod, he worked to record every detail of a scene.
"I didn't just want to make a photograph with some things in the background," Newman told American Photo magazine in an interview. "The surroundings had to add to the composition and the understanding of the person. No matter who the subject was, it had to be an interesting photograph. Just to simply do a portrait of a famous person doesn't mean a thing."
Newman's best-known images were in black and white, although he often photographed in color. His black and white portrait of Igor Stravinsky seated at a grand piano became his signature image, even though it was rejected by the magazine that gave the assignment to Newman. He was one of the few photographers allowed to make a portrait of the famously camera-shy Henri Cartier-Bresson.
As for color images, among his best-known is an eerie portrait that shows convicted former Nazi slave labor boss Alfried Krupp in one of Krupp's factories.
Newman taught photography at Cooper Union for many years.
[edit] References
- Arnold Newman Photographs
- Newman's bio for the Lucie Awards, 2004
- Newman's bio on the Ryerson University web site
- Arnold Newman Obituary New York Times, June 7, 2006
- AP "Photographer Arnold Newman dies at 88"
- Alfried Krupp portrait by Arnold Newman
- Igor Stravinsky portrait by Arnold Newman
