Arnold Newman

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Arnold Newman

Arnold Newman (born March 3, 1918 in New York City , † June 6, 2006 in New York City) was one of the most influential portrait photographers in the second half of the 20th century.

Life

Newman grew up in New York and Miami and was already very interested in the fine arts as a boy. For financial reasons he had to drop out of his art studies in Miami and found a job in a cheap portrait studio in Philadelphia . Despite the stupid work there, he learned how important it is to care about customers. In 1938 he began taking photos of friends in his spare time and developing his own style in the process. In 1941 he went to New York with a portfolio, where he presented his work to Beaumont Newhall , curator of the photography department at the Museum of Modern Art . His wife Nancy recommended him to the well-known photographer Alfred Stieglitz . This also recognized Newman's talent and enthusiasm for people - especially artists - and promoted him.

Soon Newman was able to exhibit his work in a gallery and received orders from leading magazines. From 1945 he worked as a freelance photographer in New York. Unlike some of his colleagues, such as Henri Cartier-Bresson , he never returned to his original plan of becoming a painter.

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With his individual style, Newman became one of the most important and influential portrait photographers of the 20th century. When his colleagues recognized and used the advantages of the 35mm camera - mobility and speed - he did the opposite: he liked to let the large format camera force him to approach his tasks with calm and thought.

Newman said (analogously) that “we never take pictures with the camera alone”, but rather: “with the heart and the mind. ... My work is an expression of myself, of the way I feel and think. ... I am interested in what drives individuals, what they do with their lives. ... The portrait is a kind of biography ... Even if the person is unknown or almost forgotten, the photo should be interesting or even exciting for the viewer. "

With this attitude Newman approached the portrayed and did not simply take a picture of the person, but also included the environment, work or the intellectual background of the portrayed - and sometimes seemed to put this in the foreground.

One thinks that Marc Chagall (1942) merges with the paintings in his studio, while Anne Frank's father (1960) is almost overwhelmed by the shadow on the wall of his room. Likewise, the composer Igor Stravinsky only appears as a marginal figure in his own portrait in 1946, while the opened wing takes up most of the picture and pushes the sitter to the edge with its blackness; the analogy between person and music is subtly shown in the small triangular shape of the propped arm and the large one of the grand piano: the music appears larger than the composer, who subordinates himself to it, but forms a formal congruence .

Newman's "customers" often became his friends too. His portraits of Piet Mondrian , Man Ray , George Segal , Leonard Bernstein , Isaac Asimov , Allen Ginsberg , Norman Mailer , Robert Oppenheimer , Arno Penzias and Alfried Krupp von Bohlen and Halbach became famous .

Exhibitions

  • 2012: Arnold Newman. Masterclass, retrospective, March 3 to May 20, 2012 in Berlin

Awards (selection)

  • 1999 Infinity Award
  • 2004 Lucie Award

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Photographer Arnold Newman. Exploring souls with the camera, in: Zeit, March 2012 ( Memento from April 18, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ Arnold Newman. Masterclass, retrospective, March 3 to May 20, 2012 ( Memento from April 27, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Newman, Arnold
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American portrait photographer
DATE OF BIRTH March 3, 1918
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH June 6, 2006
Place of death New York City