This photograph was taken by Arnold Newman in 1963. Arnold Newman’s family was Jewish
The image is a portrait of a businessman as seen by the uniform and position of the hands, interlinking together supporting his head. This could suggest that he’s supporting this business or that he is the boss. This man is the business owner of Krupp industries.
Krupp industries was a major weaponry supplier to the Nazis during World War II.
Arnold Newman took this portrait for a sort of revenge as he was Jewish and Krupp industries supplied machinery and weaponry to basically kill thousands and thousands of Jews (Arnold Newman’s ancestors).
In an interview, Arnold states that when someone suggested that he should do a portrait of Alfred Krupp he immediately said no, when asked: “Why not?” Arnold immediately replied with “I think he was the devil.”
In this same interview, he says, “I wanted to use one of the rare times, I wanted to put a knife in his back.” In a way, Arnold succeeded in this as a few years after this photograph was taken, Krupp got imprisoned.
Composition:
The main focal point / where the viewer’s eyes draw to first is the man in the mid-centre of the image.
The rule of thirds has successfully been used. This is evident as the man would be between the 2 bottom points if the image was on a 3 X 3 grid.
The man is the main subject in this image as he is lowered centred in the photograph. The heavy machinery and materials are also subjects as they aren’t blurred out so the photographer clearly made the sharp and clear so the viewer has an idea of what the place was.
The photographer has purposely used the lighting technique to show the model’s face crystal clear with a sense of intimidation and fear as portrayed by the harsh shadows around his face and photograph in general. In addition, the photographer used the lighting technique to light well the background so other subjects like the trains being built are visible.
The main colours used in this photograph are mostly harsh shadows and the vibrant orange train.
Lighting:
The light is coming from the windowed rooftop.
It consists mostly of natural lighting with harsh shadows surrounding the subject and the surrounding around him.
The image is slightly under-exposed giving the impression of power, obscure and intimidation.
As the natural light seem quite bright, it may be assumed that this photograph was taken during midday hours.
Techniques the photographer used:
The photographer has used a quick shutter speed as movement and detail has been recorded to a crisp sharp focus.
It has a large depth of field as the majority of the image is in focus.
The author has purposely underexposed the are around the subject to create a sense of obscurity. On the other hand, the author underexposed the background in order to have the objects in focus and well lit.
The camera in this picture is shown to be stationary as it isn’t a moving image.
Editing:
The image is in digital format and could have been edited to adjust the light to make it more natural so it isn’t too bright but not too dark.
Atmosphere:
This photograph makes me feel lowered and intimidated by this businessman as his facial expression and the way he seems to be in control of the factory makes me (the viewer) feel relegated to him in a certain way.
The photograph appears to be showing a message of how the Krupp industries were evil in a certain way. I think this because the model has an evil grin on his face and taking into consideration the historical side of Krupp industries people may argue that they enabled/gave what the Nazis needed to kill thousands of people.
Response:
I like Arnold’s work as it has a significant meaning behind it and it’s quite personal to Newman having to photograph someone who to a certain extent took part in the killing of many Jews when Arnold himself is a Jew.
The image is successful to an extent as Arnold did indeed get revenge as Krupp went to prison after this picture and the meaning behind it were revealed.
