Arnold Newman
March 27th, 2023
Arnold Newman
By: Connor Albaugh
It has been a month since the last published blog. The duration of the month leading up to this blog focused on two assignments: one happened to be reflections while the other was a composition, light, and shadow one. The reflection assignment was simply an assignment to gather reflections in any way possible that would be interesting and visually entertaining while still fulfilling the origins of the assignment. Overall, I thought this assignment wasn’t bad and definitely was on the easier side of things. However, the composition, light, and shadow assignment was quite difficult. There were some images that were hard to obtain and photograph technically. The two hardest were the silhouette and the extreme contrast photographs. Overall, we had to have 17 different photos that fulfilled things such as depth of field, angles, etc. In total, we made 6 prints, as one would be a reflection and the other five were from the composition assignment; all different in nature. The critique was last Wednesday, and we have now moved on to a different genre in photography: environmental portraiture. There is so much you can incorporate in such photographs within this particular type of photography and one person who mastered this type of photography well goes by the name of Arnold Newman.
The life of Newman began just 12 years before the Great Depression, which happened to be in 1918 in the beautiful city of New York (Article #1). He spent his childhood “in Atlantic City, New Jersey before moving to Miami Beach, Florida” (Article #2). He wanted to remain in Miami where he would end up going to college in 1936 (Article #2). At the University of Miami, “he studied painting and drawing” (Article #2). Unfortunately, college came to an end earlier than expected. Having only gone to college for two years, he could no longer afford the tuition nor did he have enough support to continue his education at the University of Miami (Article #1). However, this didn’t stop him from what he was capable of. In 1938, Newman “moved to Philadelphia to work for a studio” where he would work as a “49-cent portrait photographer” (Article #2). He would learn valuable lessons and important tips during this particular job, especially “the importance of interacting with his subjects” (Article #1). With the experience he picked up, it was time for a change of scenery. “Newman returned to Florida in 1942 to manage a portrait studio in West Palm Beach a swell as a his own business in Miami Beach in 1945” (Article #2). Having been around photographer for a good amount of time and gaining exposure, “he moved back to NYC in 1946, opened Arnold Newman Studios and worked as a freelance photographer for various magazines such as Fortune, LIFE, and Newsweek” (Article #1 and #2). In this year of his life, he would develop his own unique style and approach the type of portrait photography he would pursue: environmental portraiture.
Newman style of photography is quite fascinating. “He depicted his subjects in their natural surroundings” which was referred to as “environmental portraiture” (Article #1). This type of photography is where a “photographer uses a carefully framed and lit setting, and its contents, to symbolize the individual’s life and work” (Article #2). Newman didn’t like how this sounded, and often rejected his style to be seen under such a label. A lot of his portraits were of “artists and politicians” (Article #2). When Newman would have an idea for a photography, it would be about “the empathy he felt for the artists and their work” (Article #2). If who or what he was photographing may not entirely be clear, known, or forgotten, Newman made sure that the photo would captivate his viewers and would be visually interesting (Article #2). Being that Newman would capture his subjects “with their most familiar surroundings,” he would often include certain things that would “show each subject’s profession or their personality” (Article #2). The type of camera he used was a “large-format camera” and he used a tripod to ensure that each and everyone of his portraits were clear without any fear of blurriness from the photographer holding the camera in their hands (Article #2). He photographed in black and white as well as color, although his most well known and popular images were captured in black and white (Article #2).
The photograph at the top of this blog is one example of Newman’s use of black and white portrait photography. This image is of “Georgia O’ Keeffe on a Ghost Ranch in New Mexico in 1968” (Article #3). “Georgia O’ Keeffe was an American modernist artist who was known for her paintings of enlarged flowers, NYC skyscrapers, and New Mexico landscapes” (Google). The one thing that is imminent in the execution of this is the use of personal elements to describe Georgia O’ Keeffe. Georgia O’ Keeffe painted New Mexico landscapes and Newman captured Keeffe on a ranch in New Mexico. I think this is a great use of the “familiar surroundings and the use of a subject’s profession” as a way of honor and symbolism to Georgia’s career. The use of a ladder on the left side of the photograph up into a certain area into the sky is a way to show how skyscrapers are higher in the sky as they are in NYC. There isn’t any NYC skyscrapers in this photo, but the ladder is indicative of having to travel high into the sky to reach the top, or in the skyscraper case, the top of a building. The lighting in this photo is well done, as the tone and mood of the image signify the time of day to be during the afternoon. The light on Georgia highlights her face, hands, and ankles which allows the viewer to see the details in her skin such as certain marks, wrinkles, and human aging. Additionally, the lighting in the sky and the mid tones are so vast and detailed which allow the viewer to see the vivid detail of the clouds traveling through the sky and the greys that accompany them. The whites and greys of the clouds and the sky in the background pair with the surrounding environment in the foreground with darker greys of the vegetation in the Ghost Ranch in New Mexico and with the path leading to the chair where Georgia sits. Another thing that is well done in this photograph is the use of leading lines. The dirt path leads up to Georgia and her relaxed pose as well as leads the viewers eyes into the background where there is a line of mountains and cloud cover over top of the mountains. Similarly, the lens from the building and the ladder lead one into the mountain line in the background of the photo. This leads the viewer to see the whole mountain line as well as to see vegetation as well as the several formations of different sizes of clouds. These lines also allow the viewer to see Georgia in her relaxed state where she gets sun kissed. The shadows that appear from certain plants and vegetation as well as other objects help to exaggerate and create a dramatic effect on behalf of their overall size and structure. Lastly, the use of a large and wider depth of field is fairly important here. The use of a larger depth of field workers here because a lot, if not all, of the elements in this photograph are held in focus. This allows the viewer to take in the full photograph without having their eyes direct to one particular spot with a shallow depth of field. The use of a larger depth of field encourages the viewer to take in the scenery and sensory details surrounding the photograph. Georgia is the main subject in this image, but so is the Ghost Ranch and all of the aspects that make up the beautiful of this certain area in New Mexico such as the mountain range, various forms of vegetation, the lighting, and and the clouds that are above the ground level attraction.
In conclusion, the work of Arnold Newman is quite spectacular, but symbolic and specific to each of his subjects and their background, profession, or specialty. His black and white images convey a message on behalf of his subject but are also so rich and vivid in sensory imagery and detail. “He is acknowledged as one of the great masters of the 20th and 21st century and his work has changed portraiture” (Article #2). He is widely recognized as “the father of environmental photography” (Article #2). His work can be “collected and is exhibited in the major museums around the world in clouding the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Chicago Museum of Art, and many more” (Article #2). He can be pictured in multiple different publications, books, and has “received many rewards by the leading professional organizations in the US and abroad including the American society of Media Photographers, The International Center of Photography, the Lucie Award, etc.” (Article #2). It was obvious that Arnold Newman was going to be special not only in the art world, but with the style of environmental portraiture which he brought to life and ultimately represented expertly in his time as a photographer.
Sources:
Article #3 - https://www.thecjm.org/learn_resources/320
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