Curators:William Ewing, Todd Brandow, Nathalie Herschdorfer

Concept | Exhibition Calendar | Costs | Catalogue | Contents | Exhibition History | Organizational Bodies

Concept Arnold Newman is unquestionably one of the finest portrait photographers of the twentieth century, and indeed the finest of its second half. Many of his studies of European and American luminaries in the arts, the sciences, politics and business have rightly been described as iconic. Marlene Dietrich, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, Arthur Miller and Pablo Picasso are only a few of his celebrated sitters. A bold modernist with a superb sense of compositional geometry, Newman is known for a crisp, spare style which cleverly situates his subjects in context: one of his most famous studies, a portrait of Igor Stravinsky at the grand piano, is a geometric tour de force often compared with the rigor of a Mondrian (whom, incidentally, he also photographed). Artists delighted in sitting for Newman, knowing that he would find a way to convey their sensibility in a dramatic, but always appropriate, fashion. Though Newman is celebrated today for his great portraiture, his still lifes, architectural studies and his earliest portraits, often of anonymous people in the street, are far less known, though they can well compare with the best in these genres. FEP’s exhibition will take stock of the entire range of Newman’s photographic art, showing many fine prints for the first time ever. This rich and varied exhibition will surprise and delight even those who think they already have a comprehensive sense of this master photographer’s work.  Top of the Page

Exhibition Calendar C/O Berlin: The Cultural Forum for Photography February through early April, 2012 Museum of Photography the Hague Late April through early July, 2012               Length of Exhibition: Up to ten weeks, depending upon scheduling requirements of participating museums and the overall tour.  Top of the Page

Operational costs Participation fee is available upon request. Museums will be expected to pay on a prorata basis transportation costs, plus insurance while on premises and during transportation. Travel expenses and a modest per diem will be expected for the curators to attend the opening and assist with installation. Top of the Page

Catalogue A comprehensive, high-quality catalogue will be created by FEP Editions as the companion to the exhibition. William Ewing will be contributing a major text to the catalogue, as will selected other authors. A special softcover edition will be produced for sale at the exhibition venues.   Substantial wholesale price discounts will be made for significant advance commitments. Top of the Page

Contents The essence of the show is 200 framed vintage prints, covering the photographer’s whole career.  A large number will be coming from the Arnold Newman Foundation archive, as well as the collections of major American museums and some important private collectors. Top of the Page

Previous Exhibition History Arnold Newman has had a number of major exhibitions but never one that had such complete access to the artist’s personal archive. This will be the first posthumous retrospective and will be arguably the most comprehensive exhibition of his work ever shown. Top of the Page

Organizational Bodies This exhibition tour will be curated and produced under the auspices of the American non-profit organization, the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography (FEP), Minneapolis/Paris. Top of the Page

Biographical Information on Curators William Ewing is a well-known curator and writer on photography.  He worked as the Director of Exhibitions from 1977 to 1984 at the International Center of Photography, NY, and has been Director of the Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne, for the past fourteen years.  His exhibitions have been shown at many museums in America and Europe, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Centre Pompidou, Paris; the Hayward Gallery and the Serpentine Gallery, London; the Kunsthaus Zürich; and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.  His recent books include The Century of the Body, the Body, and Erwin Blumenfeld, as well as co-authoring Edward Steichen: Lives in Photography and Edward Steichen: In High Fashion, the Condé Nast Years 1923-1937.  Current curatorial projects include another collaborative effort with Brandow on the early work of the major fashion photographers at Condé Nast called First Sightings:  The Great Fashion Photographers at the Outset of their Condé Nast Careers. Todd Brandowworked as an art consultant in New York for many years.  Since 1997, he has been living in Paris, working as a photography curator, foundation director and book publisher.  He co-produced and co-curated the highly successful Edward S. Curtis vintage exhibitions that were exhibited in European museums between 2000 and 2006.  US State Department-sponsored modern print shows of Curtis’s work are currently touring Latin America, Europe and now Asia.  He co-curated a retrospective tour of Finnish photographer Arno Rafael Minkkinen with critic A. D. Coleman. He recently co-curated with William Ewing and Nathalie Herschdorfer the exhibitions Edward Steichen: Lives in Photography and Edward Steichen: In High Fashion, the Condé Nast Years 1923-1937.  Current curatorial projects include another collaborative effort with Ewing on the early work of the major fashion photographers at Condé Nast called First Sightings: The Great Fashion Photographers at the Outset of their Condé Nast Careers. Brandow is the founding director of the American non-profit organization, the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography (FEP), and president of FEP Editions LLC.   Nathalie Herschdorfer is a Curator at the Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland. She was educated as an art historian. Ms Herschdorfer has worked for twelve years on the major international exhibitions of the Musée de l’Elysée and their publications. She has co-curated reGeneration: 50 Photographers of Tomorrow, shown in Europe, United States and China, and Face: The New Photographic Portrait, which has been shown in six European countries. She was a co-curator on Edward Steichen: Lives in Photography and Edward Steichen: In High Fashion, the Condé Nast Years. She recently worked on major retrospectives dedicated to photographers Leonard Freed and Ray K. Metzker. She regularly works with contemporary photographers. Among her recent projects are a mid-career retrospective of the French photographer Valérie Belin and a solo show of the Italian photographer Carlo Valsecchi. She curated the exhibitions Teen City: The Adventure of Adolescence and Stigmata, which features works by contemporary photographers dealing with the aftermath. In 2010, she is working on a new edition of reGeneration: Tomorrow’s Photographers Today. Top of the Page

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