TRADITIONAL PORTRAIT: Arnold Newman

Arnold Newman

Arnold Abner Newman was an American photographer most famous for his environmental portraits of artists and politicians. Born March 3rd 1918 in New York City, he was raised and attended schools in Atlantic City and Miami Beach. He studied art under a scholarship at the University of Miami from 1936 to 1938. He died in New York City on June 6, 2006. He is also known for his carefully composed abstract still life images. He is considered as one of the most influential photographers of the 20th Century.
Arnold found his vision in the empathy he felt for artists and their work and photographed many famous personalities such as: john F. Kennedy, Pablo Picasso, Marilyn Monroe, Ronald Reagan and Audrey Hepburn and even though the subject may have been forgotten, he still managed to excite and interest the viewer through the photographs.
Arnold was often credited with being the first photographer to use environmental portraiture, in which the photographer places the subject in a carefully controlled setting to capture the subjects lifestyle and work using their most familiar surroundings expressing their personalities. for example; a musician might be photographed in their recording studio or on stage.


Newman's best known images were in black and white, although often he photographed in colour.

His black and white portrait of Igor Stravinsky seated at a grand piano became his signature image, though it was rejected by the magazine that gave the assignment to Newman.

I like Arnold's photographs because the hand covering the face adds extra emotions/feelings within the picture as well as having different lighting. The picture above of Picasso is different to his other pieces but in this case less is more, the high profile picture draws all the attention to his eyes and increases its intensity,making more impact on the audience. 

How i achieved my Arnold Newman inspired photo:

Contact Sheet:

I like my final piece because it has the same features that Arnold displayed in his photograph of Picasso such as the hand near the face, different lighting and black and white effect. However, if I was to take this shot again I would have the hand creating the shadow over the face instead of in the light as it would have made more of an impact and create more emotions within the photograph.