Nancy Newhall
Encyclopedia
Nancy Wynne Newhall was an American
photography
critic. She is best known for writing the text to accompany photographs by Ansel Adams
and Edward Weston
, but was also a widely published writer on photography, conservation
, and American culture.
Newhall was born Nancy Wynne in Lynn, Massachusetts
, and attended Smith College
in that state. She married Beaumont Newhall
, the curator of photography at the Museum of Modern Art
in New York
, and substituted for him in that role during his military service in World War II
. During the 1940s she wrote essays on popular art and culture for small magazines and journals, in which she called for a society more attuned to art, and particularly to visual art. She was always more interested in a popular audience than an academic one; in a 1940 essay, she explores the possibilities of the new medium of television
for popularizing the visual arts, suggesting techniques for teaching art and photography on camera:
In another, she argues for the centrality of photography for understanding and teaching American history ("Research"). She became close to photographer Edward Weston during this period, championing his early work and regarding his controversial 1940s work, which juxtaposed still lifes and nudes of considerable beauty and delicacy with wartime items such as gas masks, with some anxiety (Sternberger 56).
In 1945, Newhall wrote the text for a book of photographs, Time in New England, by Paul Strand
. The work would begin a new phase for her career, in which she became a vocal proponent and a central pioneer of the genre of oversized photography collections. The best known and most influential of these is This Is the American Earth, a collaboration with Ansel Adams
, published in 1960. Like Adams, Newhall was involved with the Sierra Club
, and wrote often about issues of conservation
. She was sometimes accused of political heavy-handedness on that subject—one uncharitable review of American Earth calls her prose "so full of Message that there is no room for poetry" (Deevey)—but her explication of the political context and motivation of Adams' work has been important for the Sierra Club and the conservation movement in general.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
critic. She is best known for writing the text to accompany photographs by Ansel Adams
Ansel Adams
Ansel Easton Adams was an American photographer and environmentalist, best known for his black-and-white photographs of the American West, especially in Yosemite National Park....
and Edward Weston
Edward Weston
Edward Henry Weston was a 20th century American photographer. He has been called "one of the most innovative and influential American photographers…" and "one of the masters of 20th century photography." Over the course of his forty-year career Weston photographed an increasingly expansive set of...
, but was also a widely published writer on photography, conservation
Conservation movement
The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental and a social movement that seeks to protect natural resources including animal, fungus and plant species as well as their habitat for the future....
, and American culture.
Newhall was born Nancy Wynne in Lynn, Massachusetts
Lynn, Massachusetts
Lynn is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 89,050 at the 2000 census. An old industrial center, Lynn is home to Lynn Beach and Lynn Heritage State Park and is about north of downtown Boston.-17th century:...
, and attended Smith College
Smith College
Smith College is a private, independent women's liberal arts college located in Northampton, Massachusetts. It is the largest member of the Seven Sisters...
in that state. She married Beaumont Newhall
Beaumont Newhall
Beaumont Newhall was an influential curator, art historian, writer, and photographer. His The History of Photography remains one of the most significant accounts in the field and has become a classic photo history textbook...
, the curator of photography at the Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, and substituted for him in that role during his military service in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. During the 1940s she wrote essays on popular art and culture for small magazines and journals, in which she called for a society more attuned to art, and particularly to visual art. She was always more interested in a popular audience than an academic one; in a 1940 essay, she explores the possibilities of the new medium of television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
for popularizing the visual arts, suggesting techniques for teaching art and photography on camera:
- . . . the cameras should approach an object as an actual spectator does, and, like him, be influenced by empathy. Long shots become closeups, the flow of compositional directions, and, with due care for the results on the screen, studies of detail and texture under dramatic lighting, are all ways of lending motion to motionless things. ("Television" 38)
In another, she argues for the centrality of photography for understanding and teaching American history ("Research"). She became close to photographer Edward Weston during this period, championing his early work and regarding his controversial 1940s work, which juxtaposed still lifes and nudes of considerable beauty and delicacy with wartime items such as gas masks, with some anxiety (Sternberger 56).
In 1945, Newhall wrote the text for a book of photographs, Time in New England, by Paul Strand
Paul Strand
Paul Strand was an American photographer and filmmaker who, along with fellow modernist photographers like Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Weston, helped establish photography as an art form in the 20th century...
. The work would begin a new phase for her career, in which she became a vocal proponent and a central pioneer of the genre of oversized photography collections. The best known and most influential of these is This Is the American Earth, a collaboration with Ansel Adams
Ansel Adams
Ansel Easton Adams was an American photographer and environmentalist, best known for his black-and-white photographs of the American West, especially in Yosemite National Park....
, published in 1960. Like Adams, Newhall was involved with the Sierra Club
Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is the oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. It was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by the conservationist and preservationist John Muir, who became its first president...
, and wrote often about issues of conservation
Conservation movement
The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental and a social movement that seeks to protect natural resources including animal, fungus and plant species as well as their habitat for the future....
. She was sometimes accused of political heavy-handedness on that subject—one uncharitable review of American Earth calls her prose "so full of Message that there is no room for poetry" (Deevey)—but her explication of the political context and motivation of Adams' work has been important for the Sierra Club and the conservation movement in general.
Major Books
- Photographs, 1915-1945: Paul Strand. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1945.
- The Photographs of Edward Weston. MOMA, 1946.
- Time in New England: Photographs by Paul Strand. New York: Aperture, 1950. Reprinted New York: Harper and Row, 1980.
- A Contribution to the Heritage of Every American: The Conservation Activities of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. New York: Knopf, 1957.
- (with Beaumont Newhall) Masters of Photography. New York: Braziller, 1958.
- (with Ansel Adams)This Is the American Earth . San Francisco: Sierra Club, 1960.
- Alvin Langdon Coburn: A Portfolio of Sixteen Photographs. Rochester: George Eastman House, 1963.
- Ansel Adams. Sierra Club, 1964. Reprinted (with photographs) as Ansel Adams: The Eloquent Light. New York: Aperture, 1980.
- (with Beaumont Newhall) T. H. O’Sullivan: Photographer. Eastman, 1966.
- (with Ansel Adams)Fiat Lux: The University of California. New York: McGraw Hill, 1967.
- P. H. Emerson: The Fight for Photography as a Fine Art. Aperture, 1975.
External links
- Nancy Newhall, Tioga Mine, California by Ansel Adams
- Beaumont and Nancy Newhall papers, 1843-1993. Getty Research Institute. Los Angeles, California The archive documents the work of Beaumont and Nancy Newhall, two key figures in the history of photography, through correspondence, extensive research files, published and unpublished writings, and photographs, slides and audiotapes.