Lot 17

The Artist
The Collection of Joyce Evans, Melbourne
Private collection, Melbourne

Danziger, J., and Conrad, B., Interviews with Master Photographers, Paddington Press Ltd, New York, 1977, pp. 96-97 (another example)
Newman, A., Arnold Newman: Five Decades, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York, 1986, pl. 61 (illus., another example)

Other examples of this print are held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Art Institute Chicago, Chicago; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis; and The Met, New York.

American photographer Arnold Newman, often regarded as the creator of environmental portraiture, was best known for his photographic work of politicians and artists. As he explained, 'I didn't want to make a photograph with some things in the background. The surroundings had to add to the composition and the understanding of the person. No matter who the subject was, it had to be an interesting photograph. Just too simply do a portrait of a famous person doesn't mean a thing.'(1)
The most well-known example of Newman's spectacular portraiture is his image of Russian composer and conductor, Igor Stravinsky, whose ballet and orchestral work, the Rite of Spring, premiered in Paris in 1913 and sparked one of the most intense riots in musical history due to the score's avant-garde nature and the unconventional choreography. The portrait is heightened by its nearly monochromatic tonality, accentuating the stark contrast between the white wall and the black piano. Newman purposefully integrated the open lid of the piano into the composition, likening it to the shape of a musical flat symbol - forceful, linear, and aesthetically resonant, mirroring Stravinsky's artistic essence.

Hannah Ryan
Prints & Multiples Specialist

(1)All About Photo, 'Arnold Newman', https://www.all-about-photo.com/photographers/photographer/1280/arnold-newman (accessed 21 February 2024)