‘I can’t photograph “the soul,” but I can show and tell you something fundamental’: A look at Arnold Newman’s master class

Arnold Newman, the man widely considered to be the father of environmental portraiture, was not a fan of that description. “My portraits are not at all ‘environmental.’ The word was inflicted on me.”

William A. Ewing, curator of “Arnold Newman – Masterclass,” also finds the term deprecatory. In an interview with In Sight, Ewing noted, “He [Newman] felt it devalued his symbolic and psychological aspects, which he considered just as, if not more, important.” Still, Newman’s preference for photographing people where they felt at home is looked upon as a highly influential within the 20th century photography.