Masters in Photography – Arnold Newman

“We do not take pictures with our cameras,but with our hearts and minds.” -Arnold Newman

Arnold Newman (1918-2006) is one of the great masters of photography and his work has changed world of portraiture. He is recognized as the “Father of Environmental Portraiture.” Even though he did not consider himself as taking Environmental Portraiture and thought himself to be a symbolic/metaphorical photographer. Environmental Portraiture can be defined as shooting someone in their place of work. In the best of such portraits, the background seamlessly becomes an extension of the subject, and often moves into metaphor.

Here is an an hour long interesting interview with curator of the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography William A. Ewing explaining the art and craft of Arnold Newman during the ARNOLD NEWMAN: MASTERCLASS Exhibition at Berlin.

As part of that exhibition they also released a book on him which is a posthumous retrospective on Arnold Newman’s fascinating career, filled with iconic images as well as photographs seen for the very first time. Masterclass: Arnold Newman Thames & Hudson

More information on Arnold Newman may be found at The Arnold Newman Archive, and in particular, one can see many of his portraits here. A 1981 interview of Newman from the Visions and Images series appears below.

“Photography, as we all know, is not real at all. It is an illusion of reality with which we create our own private world.” – Arnold Newman