Emotional Response

Technical – how was the photo taken

Visual -what can we see in the image

Conceptual – why was the photo taken / presented

Contextual – who, when, where etc…the story, background, impact

Analysis

My first impressions on this image is that It is eary. It has what looks like a person of importance presented with unwelcoming body language and facial expressions at the centre of the image. In the background There appears to be pillars with marks, scratches and writing on them due to old age, This makes the setting appear to be run down and aged. In the image there is a mixture of both natural and artificial light which helps give the image a depth of field and illuminates the mans facial structure while shadowing other areas such as his eye sockets and clothes. Arnold Newman has made it clear what tone and subject he was aiming for in this image as the figure is placing his hands in an position of greed and anger, which can be seen as almost intimidating to the audience.

Background of the image.

Newman asked to photograph former Nazi slave labour boss and convicted war criminal Alfried Krupp, at one of his factories. Newman originally declined, saying that he thought of him as the Devil. Krupp’s people found out that Newman was Jewish and tried to stop him from coming. The final portrait was Krupp lit both sides of his face. Newman asked Krupp to sit forward a little bit to which suddenly the shadows crossed his face in a dramatic an alarming way. Arnold stated that it made his hair absolutely stand on end. At this moment Arnold shot the image. The sinister look that was given to a time-served war criminal is one of Newman’s best known colour images. 

“It turned out to be one of my best photographs,” Mr. Newman said in an interview. “It was my impression of a Nazi who managed to survive yet killed millions of people, not all were Jews. They were doctors, they were laborers that were offensive to the Nazis. And I consider that one of my more important pictures.”