Arnold Newman (1918-2006)
Masterclass

13 October 2012 - 13 January 2013

Marilyn Monroe, Igor Stravinsky, Pablo Picasso and John F. Kennedy: just a few of the innumerable celebrities who sat for American photographer Arnold Newman (1918-2006). One of the most influential portrait photographers of the 20th century, Newman is recognized as the father of environmental portraiture. He thought a simple portrait photograph was inadequate: to suggest life and character, the picture also needed to show the subject’s personal surroundings. In this major retrospective of Newman’s work (the first since his death in 2006), the Hague Museum of Photography presents 150 original vintage prints brought over especially from the United States. Arnold Newman – Masterclass includes both his most renowned portraits and his forgotten still lifes, architectural studies and early street photography.

Although Newman also took colour photographs, he is known principally for his black-and-white pictures of celebrities. But his aim was not just to photograph famous people; above all he wanted to produce photographs that told a story and that would interest and intrigue the viewer, irrespective of the person shown in them. Newman gained a reputation not just for his portraits, but also for his still lifes and abstract photographic works.

Among Newman’s most famous works are his 1942 portraits of Piet Mondrian in the latter’s New York studio. Mondrian rarely agreed to pose for a photographer in this way and even this photo-session proved initially problematic, as Mondrian’s deafness and the ear-splitting jazz playing in the background made it difficult for him to understand Newman’s instructions. This makes the final result all the more remarkable.
Another extraordinary portrait is that of Otto Frank, father of Anne Frank. Newman met him in 1960 when the photographer and his wife visited the Netherlands. Frank happened to be in Amsterdam at that time for the opening of the Anne Frank House. After seeing some of Newman’s work, he agreed to pose for him in the famous rear annex of the house, where the Frank family had hidden for years during the Nazi occupation. The result is a memorable photograph of an obviously deeply affected Otto Frank.

Arnold Newman was born in New York in 1918. In 1938 he started his career as a portrait photographer in a Philadelphia department store and at the same time began to produce autonomous abstract work and documentaries. In 1946 he moved to New York, where he worked freelance for magazines like Harper’s Bazaar, Life and The New Yorker. He died there in 2006 at the age of 88.

Arnold Newman – Masterclass is curated by William A. Ewing and organized in collaboration with the Harry Ransom Center (Austin, Texas). The exhibition is accompanied by an English-language catalogue (special price: € 33).

More info: http://youtu.be/zhz42mmk4Ls