Elegance
Beaumont Newhall remains one of the most influential figures in the development of fine-art photography. Newhall was born on June 22, 1908, in Massachusetts, and in his mid-20s he began working at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City as a librarian. It was in 1937 that he was asked by MoMA’s legendary director, Alfred Barr, Jr. to work on the first ever comprehensive and retrospective exhibition of photography. The exhibition surveyed the first 100 years of the photographic medium and deftly balanced technical developments with artistic influences and developments. The accompanying catalogue, The History of Photography, became (through its many subsequent editions) the history textbook of choice for many decades thereafter. Newhall became the first director of MoMA’s photography department in 1940.
Newhall then went on to serve as curator (and later as director) of the International Museum of Photography at the George Eastman House from 1948 to 1971. It was during this time that Newhall built one of the preeminent collections of photography in the world.
It was also during this time that he wrote (anonymously at first) a food column in the local newspaper, the Brighton Pittsford Post. Radius Books is publishing a collection of these columns later this year — complete with recipes, reminiscences and photographs by the Newhall circle of artists. I’ve been working on this project closely with David Scheinbaum and Janet Russek, co-executors of Beaumont’s estate. One of the pleasures that have surfaced in our discussions has been getting to see some of the catalogues that Beaumont produced while working at MoMA, including a first edition, first printing of The History of Photography!
(below) Three exhibition catalogues from shows that Newhall curated during his time at MoMA: Edward Weston, Paul Strand, and Henri Cartier-Bresson.
(below) The title and table of contents spreads from the Cartier-Bresson exhibition catalogue.
