Beaumont Newhall

Beaumont Newhall (June 22, 1908 – February 26,

1993) was an American curator, art historian, writer, Beaumont Newhall
photographer, and the second director of the George Born June 22, 1908
Eastman Museum.[1] His book The History of Lynn, Massachusetts, U.S.
Photography[2] remains one of the most significant Died February 26, 1993 (aged 84)
accounts in the field and has become a classic Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S.
photographic history textbook.[3] Newhall was the Education Harvard University
recipient of numerous awards and accolades for his
Known for Photography, writing
accomplishments in the study of photo history.[4]
Notable work The History of Photography
Spouse Nancy Newhall
Early life and education
Beaumont Newhall was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, United States, on June 22, 1908. He was the son of
Herbert W. Newhall and Alice Lillia Davis.[5] Some of his earliest childhood memories revolved around
photography. He recalled watching his mother in her darkroom as she developed her own glass plate
images as well as dipping his fingers into the chemical trays to see what they tasted like.[6]

Although Newhall wanted to study film and photography in college, the subjects were not being taught as
separate disciplines when he enrolled at Harvard University. Instead, he chose to study art history and
museum studies.

While at Harvard, Newhall was greatly influenced by his instructor Paul J. Sachs.[7] In 1932, after
receiving his master's degree from Harvard,.[8] Sachs helped Newhall obtain a position as lecturer at the
Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia.

Newhall continued his graduate studies at the Institute of Art and Archaeology of the University of Paris,
and the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. He worked briefly for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in
New York and the Massachusetts branch of the Public Works Administration. Because of financial
difficulties during the Depression, Newhall was not able to devote himself to his doctoral studies, and
eventually accepted a position at the Museum of Modern Art as a stable source of income.

Museum of Modern Art

Newhall's career at the Museum of Modern Art began in 1935 when he became its librarian.[9] In 1937,
he was invited by Alfred Barr Jr., the director of MoMA, to develop the first comprehensive retrospective
of photographic works.[10] The exhibition that Newhall mounted was pivotal in securing photography's
place within the arts. Its accompanying catalog, The History of Photography, was the first account of the
first 100 years of photographic history that gave equal credit to its technical virtues, as well as its value as
an art form. Lewis Mumford in his review in The New Yorker, noted that Newhall, "who assembled the
photographs and instruments for the Museum, did an admirable job in ransacking the important
collections for historic examples" and praised his catalogue as "a very comprehensive and able piece of
exposition; one of the best short critical histories I know in any language."[11][12] The show toured 10
other American Museums and the catalogue long outlived the exhibition to become a significant
resource.[3]

In 1940, Newhall became the first curator of MoMA's photography department and decisively began
collecting for the Museum,[13] starting with the work of László Moholy-Nagy. Newhall married Nancy
Wynne, a notable photography critic who worked in his place as curator at MoMA during his service in
World War II,[14] in which his rank was First Lieutenant. He was posted to Italy and North Africa as a
photo-interpreter of aerials taken over enemy territory,[15] and then returned to America to train others.

In 1946 Newhall was invited by Josef Albers to lecture on the history of photography at Black Mountain
College. He resigned from the Museum in 1947 after he found that Edward Steichen was to direct the
Photography Department over him, while he was to be curator. Nevertheless, he accepted a request to
contribute an introduction to the MoMA exhibition catalogue for Henri Cartier-Bresson.[16]

George Eastman Museum

Newhall received a Guggenheim Fellowship and used it to start a new edition of his The History of
Photography, and also began research into the history of the daguerreotype in America, where its use had
continued for a decade after its obsolescence in Europe. From 1948 was appointed curator of the George
Eastman Museum, housed in the former residence of George Eastman, in Rochester, New York, to 1958,
and was its director until 1971. While at the Eastman Museum, Newhall was responsible for amassing
one of the largest photographic collections in the world. He was joined there by Minor White who took
over editorship of Image,[17] the magazine Newhall issued from the Museum, which later passed on to
Nathan Lyons who turned it into a respected quarterly. Newhall published books through the Museum
including Edward Weston's Daybooks, co-published with Horizon press; Photographers on Photography
edited by Lyons; and on Aaron Siskind. He served as an honorary trustee of the Eastman House until his
death.

Educator, late career and death

Throughout his career, Newhall taught the history of photography and photography at institutions
including the University of Rochester, Rochester Institute of Technology, State University of New York at
Buffalo and at the Salzburg Seminar in American Studies in Austria.

In his late career after retiring from the George Eastman Museum he was appointed professor at the
University of New Mexico in 1972 and named Professor Emeritus in 1984.

Beaumont Newhall died in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on February 26, 1993.[1] He was predeceased by his
wife Nancy on July 7, 1974 from injuries she sustained when struck by a falling tree on the Snake River
in Grand Teton National Park.[7]

Library and Archives

The Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, California houses the Beaumont and Nancy Newhall papers.
The private research library of Beaumont and Nancy Newhall was donated to the College of Santa Fe
(later Santa Fe University of Art and Design) in New Mexico before its closure in 2018.[18]

Cookery writer
Newhall wrote 234 weekly food articles in his column "Epicure Corner", for the local New York paper,
the Brighton-Pittsford Post from 1956 to 1969.[19] A collection of his writings and recipes was published
in 2009 as Beaumont's Kitchen.[20]

Awards
1970: The Cultural Award from the German Society for Photography (DGPh), with Leo Fritz
Gruber[21]
2005: Newhall was posthumously inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame
and Museum.[22][23]

Publications
Newhall, Beaumont, 1908-; Daguerre, Louis, 1787-1857 (1839), An historical and
descriptive account of the various processes of the daguerreotype and the diorama (https://t
rove.nla.gov.au/work/163938990), Winter House (republication of vintage text)
Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.); Barr, Alfred Hamilton, 1902-; Miller, Dorothy
Canning, 1904-, (comp.); Newhall, Beaumont, 1908-; Fantl, Ernestine Mary, 1907-, (joint
comp.) (1936), Cubism and abstract art: painting, sculpture, constructions, photography,
architecture, industrial art, theatre, films, posters, typography (https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/1
7926767), The Museum of Modern Art
Newhall, Beaumont (1947), A check list of books on photography published in America
before the civil war (https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/15023793), New York
Newhall, Beaumont (1949), The history of photography from 1839 to the present day (Rev.
and enl. ed.), Museum of Modern Art, ISBN 978-0-87070-374-4
Newhall, Beaumont; Newhall, Beaumont, 1908- (1956), On photography: a source book of
photo history in facsimile (https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/14296750), Century House
Newhall, Beaumont; Newhall, Beaumont, 1908-1993, (editor,); Newhall, Nancy, (editor,)
(1958), Masters of photography (https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10567128), George Braziller,
Inc {{citation}}: |author2= has generic name (help)
Newhall, Beaumont (1961), The daguerreotye in America (https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/2004
52044), Duell, Sloane & Pearce
Vroman, A. C. (Adam Clark); Mahood, Ruth I. (Ruth Ione), (editor.); Weinstein, Robert A,
(editor.); Newhall, Beaumont, 1908-1993, (writer of introduction.) (1961), Photographer of
the Southwest: Adam Clark Vroman, 1856-1916, The Ward Ritchie Press, ISBN 978-0-378-
02502-7 {{citation}}: |author2= has generic name (help)
Cartier-Bresson, Henri; Kirstein, Lincoln, 1907-; Newhall, Beaumont, 1908-; Museum of
Modern Art (New York, N.Y.) (1964), Photographs by Cartier-Bresson (https://trove.nla.gov.a
u/work/22683712), Cape
O'Sullivan, Timothy H; Newhall, Beaumont, 1908-; Newhall, Nancy; Amon Carter Museum of
Western Art (1966), T.H. O'Sullivan: photographer (https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10647579),
G. Eastman House in collaboration with the Amon Carter Museum of Western Art
Newhall, Beaumont (1967), Latent image: the discovery of photography (https://trove.nla.go
v.au/work/10696277) (1st ed.), Doubleday
Beaumont Newhall (1969), Airborne camera the world from the air and outer space (https://a
rchive.org/details/airbornecamerawo00newh), New York Hastings House, ISBN 978-0-8038-
0335-0
Newhall, Beaumont; Newhall, Nancy (1969), A collection of photographs (https://trove.nla.go
v.au/work/22818652), Aperture Inc
Newhall, Beaumont; Evans, Frederick H; Alfred Stieglitz Center (1973), Frederick H. Evans:
photographer of the majesty, light, and space of the medieval cathedrals of England and
France, Aperture, ISBN 978-0-912334-48-6
Newhall, Beaumont; Edkins, Diana, (joint author.) (1974), William H. Jackson (https://archiv
e.org/details/williamhjackson00newh), Morgan & Morgan, ISBN 978-0-87100-045-3
{{citation}}: |author2= has generic name (help)
Coke, Van Deren, 1921-; Newhall, Beaumont, 1908- (1975), One hundred years of
photographic history: essays in honor of Beaumont Newhall (https://archive.org/details/oneh
undredyearso0000unse_u2x0) (1st ed.), University of New Mexico Press, ISBN 978-0-8263-
0344-8
Weston, Brett; Newhall, Beaumont, 1908-1993, (writer of afterword.); Aperture, Inc (1975),
Voyage of the eye, Aperture, Inc, ISBN 978-0-912334-84-4
Bayer, Herbert; Newhall, Beaumont, 1908-; ARCO Center for Visual Art (1977), Herbert
Bayer: photographic works an exhibition (https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/18097620), The
Center
Newhall, Beaumont, 1908- (1980), Photography: Essays & Images: Illustrated Readings in
the History of Photography, Museum of Modern Art, ISBN 978-0-87070-385-0
Menil Foundation; Newhall, Beaumont, 1908-; Glassman, Elizabeth; Davidson, Kathryn;
Rice Museum (1980), Transfixed by light: photographs from the Menil Foundation collection:
exhibition at the Rice Museum, Institute for the Arts, Rice University, March 21-May 24,
1981, Menil Foundation, ISBN 978-0-939594-00-9
Newhall, Beaumont (1983), Photography and the book: delivered on the occasion of the
eighth Bromsen lecture, May 3, 1980 (https://archive.org/details/photographybook00newh),
Trustees of the Public Library of the City of Boston, ISBN 978-0-89073-066-9
Newhall, Beaumont; Adams, Ansel, 1902-1984 (1983), In plain sight: the photographs of
Beaumont Newhall (1st ed.), G.M. Smith, ISBN 978-0-87905-086-3
Weston, Edward, 1886-1958; Newhall, Beaumont, 1908-; Conger, Amy, 1942- (1984),
Edward Weston omnibus: a critical anthology (https://archive.org/details/edwardwestonomni
0000west), G.M. Smith: Peregrine Smith Books, ISBN 978-0-87905-131-0
Weston, Edward; Newhall, Beaumont, 1908-; University of Arizona. Center for Creative
Photography (1986), Supreme instants: the photography of Edward Weston (1st ed.), Little,
Brown, ISBN 978-0-8212-1621-7
Beaumont Newhall The Challenge of photography to this art historian. In Barrow, Thomas F;
Newhall, Beaumont, 1908-; Walch, Peter, 1940- (1986), Perspectives on photography:
essays in honor of Beaumont Newhall (1st ed.), University of New Mexico Press, ISBN 978-
0-8263-0863-4
Newhall, Beaumont (1993), Focus: memoirs of a life in photography (https://archive.org/deta
ils/isbn_9780821219041) (1st ed.), Little, Brown, ISBN 978-0-8212-1904-1
Newhall, Beaumont (2009), Beaumont's kitchen: lessons on food, life, and photography with
Beaumont Newhall, Radius Books, ISBN 978-1-934435-06-9
References
1. Hagen, Charles (1993-02-27). "Beaumont Newhall, a Historian Of Photography, Is Dead at
84" (https://www.nytimes.com/1993/02/27/arts/beaumont-newhall-a-historian-of-photography
-is-dead-at-84.html). The New York Times. p. 127. Retrieved 2010-01-24.
2. Newhall, Beaumont (1982) [1937]. The History of Photography: From 1839 to the present
(5th ed.). New York: Museum of Modern Art. ISBN 978-0870703812.
3. Warren, Lynne (2006), Encyclopedia of twentieth-century photography, Routledge,
ISBN 978-1-57958-393-4
4. Goldberg, Vicki (1993-08-15). "Depth of Field" (https://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/15/books/
depth-of-field.html). The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-10-25.
5. Newhall, Beaumont. "Massachusetts, Birth Records, 1840-1915". ancestry.com. New
England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts (as re-printed on
Ancestry.com). {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
6. Newhall, Beaumont (1993). Focus: Memoirs of a Life in Photography (https://archive.org/det
ails/isbn_9780821219041/page/9) (1st ed.). Boston, Toronto, London: Little, Brown and
Company. pp. 9–10 (https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780821219041/page/9). ISBN 0-8212-
1904-9.
7. Cooper, Thomas Joshua, 1946-; Hill, Paul, 1941-; Camera (Lucerne) (1979), Dialogue with
photography, Farrar, Straus, Giroux, ISBN 978-0-374-13893-6
8. Michael Baker Finding aid for the Beaumont and Nancy Newhall papers, 1843-1993, The
Online Archive of California (https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt8r29q4jj/entire_text/)
9. Newhall, Focus, p. 39
10. Beaumont Newhall Papers in The Museum of Modern Art Archives (https://www.moma.org/r
esearch-and-learning/archives/finding-aids/Newhallf)
11. Robert Mumford, The New Yorker, p.39-40, April 3, 1937
12. Robert Mumford; Robert Wojtowicz (Editor) (2007), Mumford on Modern Art in the
1930sHardcover (https://archive.org/details/mumfordonmoderna0000mumf) (1st ed.),
University of California Press, ISBN 978-0-520-24858-8 {{citation}}: |author2= has
generic name (help)
13. Newhall, Focus, p. 64
14. Edkins, Diana E. (1976). "A Tribute to Nancy Newhall". Untitled. 10: 5.
15. *Beaumont Newhall (1969), Airborne camera the world from the air and outer space (https://
archive.org/details/airbornecamerawo00newh), New York Hastings House, ISBN 978-0-
8038-0335-0
16. *Cartier-Bresson, Henri; Kirstein, Lincoln, 1907-; Newhall, Beaumont, 1908-; Museum of
Modern Art (New York, N.Y.) (1964), Photographs by Cartier-Bresson (https://trove.nla.gov.a
u/work/22683712), Cape
17. George Eastman House; International Museum of Photography and Film; International
Museum of Photography at George Eastman House (1952), "Image", Image: The Magazine
of George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography at George Eastman
House], ISSN 0536-5465 (https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0536-5465)
18. Tripp Stelnicki, 'Questions loom over fate of art collections as Santa Fe University of Art and
Design closes', The New Mexican May 3, 2018 (http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/l
ocal_news/questions-loom-over-fate-of-art-collections-as-santa-fe/article_80840d54-de86-5
9dc-9c55-6ea4b7b0fed6.html)
19. Newhall, Beaumont (1993), Focus: memoirs of a life in photography (https://archive.org/deta
ils/isbn_9780821219041) (1st ed.), Little, Brown, ISBN 978-0-8212-1904-1
20. Chickey, David; Himes, Darius; and Hurley, Joanna (eds.). Beaumont's Kitchen. Lessons on
food, life, and photography with Beaumont Newhall. (Radius Books, Santa Fe, NM; 2009)
p. 11-12. ISBN 978-1-934435-06-9.
21. "The Cultural Award of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Photographie (DGPh) (http://www.dgp
h.de/english/the-cultural-award-of-the-deutsche-gesellschaft-fuer-photographie)". Deutsche
Gesellschaft für Photographie e.V.. Accessed 7 March 2017.
22. "List of Inductees" (https://web.archive.org/web/20120930200300/http://www.iphf.org/Hall_O
f_Fame/Inductees.html). International Photographer Hall of Fame. 2006. Archived from the
original (http://www.iphf.org/Hall_Of_Fame/Inductees.html) on September 30, 2012.
23. "Beaumont Newhall" (https://www.iphf.org/hof-beaumont-newhall?rq=Beaumont%20Newhal
l/). International Photography Hall of Fame. Retrieved October 5, 2024.

External links
Oral history interview with Beaumont Newhall, 1965 Jan. 23 (http://www.aaa.si.edu/collectio
ns/oralhistories/transcripts/newhal65.htm) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/200812031
65618/http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/oralhistories/transcripts/newhal65.htm) 2008-12-03
at the Wayback Machine in the Smithsonian Archives of American Art

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