Beaumont Newhall
Beaumont Newhall (1908–1993) was an art historian, writer, photographer and the first curator of photography at Museum of Modern Art, New York (1940-1945). His book The History of Photography (1949) remains one of the most significant accounts in the field and has become a classic photo history textbook.
Contents
Biography
Newhall studied art history and museum studies at Harvard University (1930). In 1937, he mounted a survey exhibition of photography for the Museum of Modern Art, Photography, 1839-1937. The 800-work exhibition toured the country and the catalog for the show became a staple for the history of photography. Ironically, Newhall's treatment of photography as high art rankled the museum's board of trustees, who accepted public criticism that the Museum was turning a popular medium into an avenue of snobbery. [1] In 1948, Beaumont Newhall became the first Curator of Photography at the George Eastman House, and then served as its Director from 1958 to 1971, building a significant photography collection. After his retirement, Newhall accepted a position as Visiting Professor of Art at the University of New Mexico, where he helped to establish the first doctoral program in the history of photography at an American university [2]. He died at his home in Santa Fe, from complications from a stroke, February 26, 1993 [3].
Publications
- editor, Photography 1839-1937, New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1937, ARG. Catalogue for the 1937 exhibition. [4]
- A Short Critical History of Photography, 1940.
- The History of Photography: From 1839 to the Present Day, New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1949, 256 pp; 5th ed., 1982.
- Historia de la fotografia, trans. Homero Alsina Thevenet, 2002. (Spanish)
- with Nancy Newhall, Masters of Photography, New York: Castle Books & George Braziller, Inc., 1958; 1968, IA.
- Frederick Evans, 1964.
- Latent Image: The Discovery of Photography, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1967.
- Airborne Camera: The World from the Air and Outer Space, New York: Hastings House, 1969.
- The Daguerreotype in America, New York: Dover Publications, 1961; 3rd ed. rev., 1975, IA, 1976.
- Photography, Essays & Images: Illustrated Readings in the History of Photography, New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1980.
- In Plain Sight: The Photographs of Beaumont Newhall, 1983.
- Focus: Memoirs of a Life in Photography, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1993.
Literature
- Perspectives on Photography: Essays in Honor of Beumont Newhall, Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1986.
- Marquis, Alice Goldfarb, Alfred H. Barr, Jr.: Missionary for the Modern, Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1989, pp 137-138.
- Ya'ara Gil Glazer, "A new kind of history? The challenges of contemporary histories of photography", Journal of Art Historiography 3 (Dec 2010).
