ARNOLD NEWMAN

Arnold Newman was an American photography, who is known for his "environmental portraits" of artists and politicians, along with his composed abstract still life images. He studied painting and drawing at the University of Miami in 1936. He was only able to study for two years due to finances, he then moved to Philadelphia to work for a studio and made 49-cent portraits. In 1946, Newman relocated from Florida to New York, opened Arnold Newman Studios and worked as a freelance photographer for Fortune, Life, and Newsweek.

Newman is often credited with being the first photographer to use the technique 'environmental portraiture', which is when a photographer places the subject in a carefully controlled setting to capture the essence of the individual's life and/or work. He usually captured his subjects in their most familiar surroundings with visual elements showing their professions, along with their personalities.

I quite enjoyed looking at Newman's work. He might be the 'founder' of environmental portraiture, but one can truly see how much thought he put into each one of his photographs. He really cared about showing not only the person's job, but also trying his best to show off the subject's personality. For example, his photograph of Bill Clinton. Newman was able to show off Clinton's somewhat laid back personality while still describing his professional side of once being the president of the United States.


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