Beneath this collage of portraits is photographer Arnold Newman. Since the 1940s Newman has photographed many of the leading cultural and political figures in the United States and abroad. He has published his work in such magazines as Life, Fortune, and Harper's Bazaar as well as in more than a dozen individual monographs. Inspired by this record of accomplishment, New York photographer Abe Frajndlich cut out some of Newman's most iconic images from a book and pieced them together. He then photographed Newman, who wears this collage like a mask. As Frajndlich explained in ARTnews, "It's very imposing and challenging to make a portrait of a man who's defined so many faces for us." Taken on Newman's seventieth birthday, this photograph not only celebrates a lifetime's work but speaks to the important role that photographic portraiture played in shaping ideas and perceptions in the twentieth century.

Abe Frajndlich (born 1946)
Dye transfer print, 1988
Published April 1991
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
©Abe Frajndlich

Portrait of the Art World: A Century of ARTnews Photographs
National Portrait Gallery/Smithsonian Institution

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