Arnold Newman . Masterclass Press Release
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Press release Berlin . December 21, 2011 Arnold Newman . Masterclass Retrospective C/O Berlin, International Forum For Visual Dialogues, is pleased to present the exhibition Masterclass featuring the work of American photographer Arnold Newman from March 3 to May 20, 2012. The opening will be held on Friday, March 2, , 2012, at 7 p.m. at the Postfuhramt, Oranienburger Straße 35/36 in Berlin-Mitte. “I am interested in what motivates people, what they do with their lives. I would have made a good psychiatrist” - Arnold Newman A person’s entire life represented by a single instant - the photographic portrait as a form of visual biography. He intentionally incorporated the personal environment, the work, and signs which revealed the intellectual background of those he photographed. With great sensitivity and care, he brought these aspects so strongly into the foreground that they became symbols and clues to the person’s character. Every one of his “environmental portraits” – as they were called by critics - of artists, creative professionals, scientists, intellectuals, athletes, and statesmen is a formally and conceptually balanced composition. With their POWERFUL metaphoric quality, THEY represent a cross-section of twentieth century culture. Arnold Newman photographed numerous famous people in his empathetic visual language—Pablo Picasso, Marilyn Monroe, Marc Chagall, Igor Stravinsky, Max Ernst, Piet Mondrian, Marcel Duchamp, John F. Kennedy, David Hock- ney, Martha Graham, Andy Warhol— but hated the idea of celebrity when it was devoid of achievement. His portraits represent a search for exceptional individuals who were realizing their own ideas with exceptional ability. He was interested in what, not who, people were. For this reason, the individual’s personal context is of crucial importance in his photographs; the austere studio photography of Richard Avedon or Irving Penn was never an option for Newman. His approach was oriented more towards the photojournalistic approaches of Henri Cartier-Bresson or Alfred Eisens- taedt. Each of his portraits is an artistic statement, not just a picture of the person portrayed. With this visual concept, Arnold Newman set high standards for artistic interpretation and aesthetic innovation starting in the late 1930s. Arnold Newman was a perfectionist in the application of this idea. His use of a large-format camera forced both him and his subjects to be calm and focused. In order to achieve the unique formal brilliance to which he aspired, he had to gain control over every aspect of the image. This also meant arranging and intentionally staging elements of the scene—and in some cases rearranging the setting altogether to capture every detail. Newman preferred natural light, but when he had to, added complex arrangements of artificial lightings to get the effect he desired. Arnold Newman loved teaching, as many of his students attest. “Masterclass” shows us that there are still many lessons to be learned from this master. The exhibition, comprises 200 vintage black-and-white photographs from the oeuvre of the most influential portrait photographer of the twentieth century. The posthumous retrospective includes Arnold Newman’s most famous portraits but also many who have previously escaped attention, along with still lifes, architectural studies, early street photography, and revealing contact sheets that have never been shown before pub- licly. The retrospective has been curated by the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography, Minneapolis, by William Ewing, in collaboration with the Harry Ransom Center, Austin, Texas. A catalog has been published by Thames & Hudson to accompany the exhibition. C/O Berlin . Oranienburger Straße 35/36 . 10117 Berlin-Mitte . Telefon +49.30.28 44 41 60 . Telefax +49.30.28 09 19 24 . [email protected] . www.co-berlin.com Arnold Newman (b. 1918, d. 2006 in New York City) began studying painting at the University of Miami in 1936. Lacking the financial means to continue, he left after two years and became a portrait photographer at a department store in Philadelphia. Alongside his work doing studio photography, he spent time wandering through the poor neigh- borhoods of the city to document people in their living environments. In 1939, he moved back to Florida to manage a portrait studio in West Palm Beach. In the early 1940s, Arnold Newman opened his own business and began to focus on artistic photography. In 1941, he began creating portrait photographs of artists, a form he perfected in the years to come. In 1945, the Philadelphia Museum of Art presented one of his first exhibitions. One year later, New- man moved to New York and received his first commissions for magazines like Harper’s Bazaar, Life, Look, and the New Yorker. Starting in the 1950s, his work began to be published in magazines and books worldwide and shown in numerous exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Portrait Gallery in London, the ICP in New York, and the Musée de l’Élysée in Lausanne among others. Arnold Newman received numerous awards for his work, including the 1999 Infinity Award for Master of Photography and the 2004 Lucie Award for Outstanding Achievement in Portrait Photography. Arnold Newman . Masterclass Retrospective Exhibition March 3 to May 20, 2012 Opening Friday, March 2, 2012 . 7 pm Guided press tour Friday, March 2, 2012 . 11 am Opening hours daily . 11 am to 8 pm Admission 10 Euro . reduced 5 Euro Cataloge published by Thames & Hudson Organizer C/O Berlin International Forum For Visual Dialogues Location C/O Berlin at the Postfuhramt Oranienburger Straße 35/36 . 10117 Berlin Press contact Mirko Nowak Phone 030.28 44 41 641 . [email protected] Auguststraße 5a . 10117 Berlin www.co-berlin.com Partner Spporter Sponsor Mediapratner C/O Berlin . Oranienburger Straße 35/36 . 10117 Berlin-Mitte . Telefon +49.30.28 44 41 60 . Telefax +49.30.28 09 19 24 . [email protected] . www.co-berlin.com.