Arnold Newman environmental portraits
Newman went on to photograph Eleanor Roosevelt, Pablo Picasso, Frank Lloyd Wright, Golda Meir, Andy Warhol, Marilyn Monroe, Salvador Dalí, and the former president Bill Clinton: decidedly on his own terms. There would be no overstuffed costume fittings or stark studios. Mr. Newman’s portraits were defined by his sitter’s environments, which led him to be known as the “father of the environmental portrait.” which he hated being called.
Otto Frank, who was a businessman and the father of Anne Frank. in Amsterdam, 1960. Credit…Arnold Newman
Gwendolyn Knight, sculptor, and Jacob Lawrence, painter. New York, 1944.Credit…Arnold Newman
George Grosz, painter. Bay side, New York, 1942.Credit…Arnold Newman
What he said about his photos
in his photos he argued that he was not interested in the details of his subjects surroundings. but instead the symbol’s that he could create. furthermore A new book by Radius Books, “Arnold Newman: One Hundred,” published in conjunction with the Howard green burg gallery in honour of the centennial of his birth, shows the range of his symbolic approach.
Some plates in the book are solely of symbols — like a collage of a violin maker’s patterns in Philadelphia. One of his most famous, his mid-1940s portrait of Igor Stravinsky that was commissioned by Harper’s Bazaar, shows the composer at the corner of a large piano. This, Mr. Newman explained, was not about the piano, it was about the symbol the piano represents.
within this photo it shows how he crops to symbolise a music note when cropped and more so how it is in black and white, which also makes all of his photos seem like they are related in some way or another.
Others which show subjects placed within symbols. In his 1956 portrait, Mr. Newman posed the bald head of the painter and sculptor Jean Dubuffet in front of a weathered wall that looked like a huge glob of chipped paint.
Image Analysis:
Emotional responce
this photo graph automatically gives an uncomfortable view because if the way he’s staring out at you with a villainous look to him.
Visual
in the photo there are really dark and gloomy colours such as green and brown. its dark toned with light throughout the middle top. the shape is symmetrical with leading lines. creates a sense of depth with the background in relatively deep focus, and the man is central with pillars either side of him. he is in the foreground. lights repetition leads the eye to the deep background.
technical
in this the lighting bright in the back ground however on him its very dark on his on the front of his face. The aperture is high. also the shutter speed looks over exposed on the lights and where the lights are shining on but where the lights don’t reach it seems like its slightly under exposed. from the high sensitivity in the ISO shows the its all its focus. throughout the photo there is a warm and cold feel about it expect from Krupp because he is the vocal point.
contextual
has a very historical view of after the second world war and Jewish concentration camps. which is very personal to Arnold Newman, who is a Jewish photography, who also originally didn’t want to take the photo. While Alfred Krupp, the subject, was a German Nazi war criminal. with the visual aspect the industrial backdrop, which serves as a reminder of the atrocities committed during WW2.
conceptual
shows that Krupp is seen as scheming and looks evil and cruel, also where he is positioned shows that he’s the owner of the train station where they would transport the Jews to concentration camps. showing this is that he looks bigger and better with him in the spot light. Arnold Newman shows his own poetic justice by making Krupp seen as evil as possible. showing this is the shadows that come down on his face, to create this Newman made Krupp lean forward to create this.