Beaumont Newhall 1908–1993

In 1937, Beaumont Newhall, then a young librarian at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), presented Photography: 1839–1937 to commemorate the first century of the medium. This began his long, distinguished career as a pioneering historian and curator. Newhall was close to many great photographers of his time and promoted the 35mm camera for works of art as well as reportage. He also made photographs himself.

He made this self-portrait in 1970, the year he organized Photo Eye of the 20s for MoMA and the George Eastman House, where he then served as director. In a show that explored “the camera as a precise image maker” and “photography as a plastic medium,” he chose to hang the photographs so that passersby could see them from the streets. As he wrote, “the unexpected, inexplicable counterplay of reflected and direct images within and without is a montage, expressing the spirit of the exhibition.”

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution