Arnold Newman (Hardcover)

~ Philip Brookman (Author) "Throughout history, portraits have documented our legacy, creating a gallery of faces, a representation of ourselves that connects who we are today with who we..." (more)
Key Phrases: des photos, New York, West Palm Beach, Harper's Bazaar (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

There's a famous photograph of Picasso in his 70s that probably would make you think "genius" and "visionary" even if you had no idea he was a great artist. One hand pushes up against his forehead, carving a few extra wrinkles and hooding one eye; the other eye stares out with implacable intensity. This is the work of Arnold Newman, one of the great contemporary American portrait photographers, whose images--frequently made on assignment in Europe--appeared in Harper's Bazaar, Fortune, Life, Look, and other major magazines. Trained as a painter, he believes (as he writes in a short, passionate essay prefacing his selection of 60 years of his work) that "we do not take pictures with our cameras, but with our hearts and minds." He has always been fascinated by the kind of people--scientists, musicians, actors, politicians, writers, and artists--with whom he could have "long conversations until late at night."

Arnold Newman, probably the most extensive of the many samplings of the photographer's work, amply displays his vaunted skill at portraying mostly well-known sitters in their native habitats, whether these happen to be lonely-looking palaces (Haile Selassie, Generalissimo Franco), book-lined offices (Golda Meier, Stephen Jay Gould), a shabby road veiled in darkness (Shelagh Delaney), a bed (Woody Allen, scribbling on a legal pad), or mysterious precincts that capture the willful individuality of artists and architects. With 240 black-and-white and color plates, this beautifully produced book (marred only by the awkward way the elegant black silhouette of a grand piano lid in the Igor Stravinsky portrait bleeds across two pages) accompanies an exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. (March 18-May 21, 2000). --Cathy Curtis --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

At 82 and still actively involved in a career that has spanned 60 years, Arnold Newman has photographed many of the 20th century's leading political and cultural figures. His approach to portraiture has been to place subjects within their working or natural environments to better distinguish their personalities and creative abilities. Thus, we see artists in their studios, writers at their desks, composers seated at pianos, and presidents and prime ministers in stately settings. His images of John F. Kennedy, Harry Truman, Igor Stravinsky, Pablo Picasso, Piet Mondrian, Eleanor Roosevelt, Arthur Miller, and Lillian Hellman, among others, are often what come to mind when we think of these famous people. This book is compiled as part of Taschen's lavish, large-format series on prominent photographers (e.g., August Sander, LJ 7/99) and released as the catalog for a retrospective at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. It contains introductory essays by Newman and by Philip Brookman, curator and organizer of the exhibition, and features over 200 full-page black-and-white and color plates, supplemented with a detailed chronology. Well worth considering, even if your library does own pictures of many of Newman's subjects.DJoan Levin, MLS, Chicago
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: Taschen; Mul edition (August 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3822825921
• ISBN-13: 978-3822825921
• Product Dimensions: 11.6 x 9.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #816,174 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Almost as good as being there, May 20, 2000

By	jon19003 (Philadelphia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Arnold Newman (Hardcover)

I just got back from the Newman exhibit at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington D.C. and although I thought I had seen most of his work, I was stunned by the boldness of some of the photo collage work and color work which I had previously only seen in B&W. The book has all of the show and many more. It was $40 there and they were selling like hotcakes. The book is beautiful and has $1 million worth of images in it. Hard to pick a favorite. Certainly Picasso and maybe Isaac Asimov too.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Fine Artist Has Gone: Legends Never Die, June 7, 2006

By	Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Arnold Newman (Paperback)

Arnold Newman died recently at age 88 but his photographic work will live one. Newman was known for his environmental portraiture - capturing the famous faces of his time in the atmosphere in which they created their magic and lived their lives, sometimes private, but most times public.

In this superb collection of Newman's work there are the famous photographs of Igor Stravinsky at his piano, Marilyn Monroe ('she was terrified of aging'), Carl Sandburg, Mickey Mantle, Truman Capote, Pablo Picasso, Frank Lloyd Wright, Sir Cecil Beaton, Diana Vreeland and many more. Each subject is part of a personality scape, accompanied with the trappings that made them famous.

Arnold Newman felt that a subject's environment illuminated the subject, and while many other photographers have followed his lead, Newman remained at the top of his genre. This book is an excellent tribute (though not published as such!) to an artist departed whose legacy will linger. Recommended. Grady Harp, June 06

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, July 28, 2007

By	HWJ3 (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

Excellent collection of Newman.
Everyone does environmental portraits these days.
Newman is the original and the best.
A beautiful and inspirational collection.