Who is Arnold Newman?

Arnold Newman was born March 3, 1918 in New York City. He studied art under a scholarship at the University of Miami, Coral Gables, from 1936 to 1938. However he died in New York City on June 6, 2006. Generally acknowledged as the pioneer of the environmental portrait, he is also known for his still life and abstract photography, and he is considered as one of the most influential photographers of the 20th Century.
Newman began his career in photography in 1938 through working at chain portrait studios in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and West Palm Beach, and immediately began working in abstract and documentary photography on his own. In June of 1941, Beaumont Newhall of the Museum of Modern Art and Alfred Stieglitz “discovered” him, and he was given an exhibit with Ben Rose at the A.D. Gallery in September. There he began working on experimental portraiture, developing an approach that is widely influential in portrait photography today.  In 1945 his Philadelphia Museum of Art one-man exhibit, “Artists Look Like This,” attracted nationwide attention. Well established, he moved to New York in 1946 and opened his studio and became a member of the American Society of Magazine Photographers, Newman’s new approach to portraiture began its influence through key publications in America and abroad. In 1949, he married Augusta Rubenstein, and they had two sons, Eric, born 1950, and David, 1952. His wife died in 2009.

I decided to analyse one of the images taken by Arnold, to see what made them so effective.
From this image of Audrey Hepburn, what I believe makes it so effective, is the use of the rule of thirds within, which when taken into account, find that the models eyes line up with the top right corner, which is where you can find your eyes instantly drawn to. There is also that there is an even light throughout the whole picture, creating a balanced scene within throughout, which helps contribute to the visually pleasing aspect.

Visually, what I find makes it so effective is the use of the subjects position and composition of the shot within. For example the person is evenly positioned in the center of the photo looking away, this visually makes it aesthetically pleasing to the eye, due to how the head which is the key part of the image is facing away, with a calm facial expression making it a very relaxed shoot. I also think the use of clothing from the neck to the bottom of her shoulders brings the image together, this is because of how the clear contrast between the blackness and the white brings out the features of the rest of the subject. 

The context of this image about Audrey Hepburn, was that Arnold Newman wanted to show that even if someone was famous to you or not, the image none the less could get you excited and interest the viewer. He wanted to capture the essence of Audrey's life and work, and so tried to do so with a controlled environment for the picture. He wanted to present what defined Audrey Hepburn as a whole, and so thought that through this composition would be able to reflect her life and work, in order to impact the viewer the most.

What is an environmental portrait?


An environmental portrait is a portrait of someone who has been taken in their place of work, which is the subject's usual environment. This can be their home or workplace, but usually within the image, it reflects and illuminates the person's personal life, seen through the surrounding objects within the picture itself.  

One photographer who does this is Sally Mann, as seen in her photos like the one below called 'Candy Cigarette'.
Within environmental portraits the subject tends to have a relaxed and calm face, in order to create an effect inside the image itself, whilst allowing the image to be emphasized due to its dramatic characteristics.
Sally Mann tended to focus on a individual face within her images, to really make out the backgrounds of the character within, allowing us to see the conditions many of the subjects were brought up in.