- Arnold Newman
Infobox Artist
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name = Arnold Newman
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birthname = Arnold Abner Newman
birthdate = Birth date|1918|03|03
location =
deathdate = Death date|2006|6|6 (aged 88)
deathplace = Mt. Sinai Medical Center,New York City
nationality = American
field =Portrait Photography News Photography
Photography Teacher
training =
movement =Environmental Portraiture (founder/coined phrase)
works = "Fortune
LifeNewsweek "
patrons =
influenced by =
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awards =Infinity Award (1999)Lucie Award (2004)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 abstractstill life images.Early life and career
Newman graduated high school in Miami Beach and attended the
University of Miami studyingpainting anddrawing with an introduction toModernism . Unable to afford continuing after two years, he moved toPhiladelphia, 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 develop his technique.uccess as photographer
Newman returned to Florida in 1942 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, andNewsweek .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 andMickey 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 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 individual's life and work. Newman normally captured his subjects in their most familiar 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-shyHenri Cartier-Bresson .Among Newman's best-known color images 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. He was recovering from a stroke when he died at Mt. Sinai Medical Center,New York . [ [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13171677/ Death of Arnold Newman reported by MSNBC] ]Awards
*1999 Infinity Award for Master of Photography,
International Center of Photography ,Manhattan [ [http://museum.icp.org/museum/exhibitions/newman/ Newman's biography at the ICP website for his 1999 Infinity Award] ]
*2004 Lucie Award for Outstanding Achievement in Portrait Photography, International Photography Awards program,Los Angeles ,California [ [http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/9/prweb157745.htm 2004 Lucie Award information] ]ee also
* [http://museum.icp.org/museum/exhibitions/newman/ Arnold Newman Photographs]
* [http://www.lucieawards.com/press/04photos/bio/Newman.html Newman's bio] for the Lucie Awards, 2004
* [http://www.imagearts.ryerson.ca/imagesandideas/pages/reference.cfm?page=130 Newman's bio] on the Ryerson University web site
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/07/arts/07newman.html?ex=1307332800&en=e9e650a350b6a6e7&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss Arnold Newman Obituary] New York Times, June 7, 2006
* [http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13171677/ AP "Photographer Arnold Newman dies at 88"]
* [http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0312/an01.html Alfried Krupp] portrait by Arnold Newman
* [http://www.agallery.com/Pages/photographers/newman.html Igor Stravinsky] portrait by Arnold Newman
* [http://www.lexiphoto.com/photos/newman.pdf One of the last Interviews held with Arnold Newman] -2003References
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