Beaumont Newhall

Beaumont Newhall (1908 – 1993) was an influential art critic, curator and historian of photography, whose career spanned half a century. He is best remembered for his seminal work on the history of photography, first published in 1937 and reissued in a revised edition in 1982.

Newhall was born in 1908, in Richmond, Virginia to a family that had roots in the American Revolution. He studied art and literature at the University of Wisconsin, graduating in 1931. Following his studies, he began working for the Oakland Museum in California, where he first encountered photography and began to take up photography. After five years of working for the museum, Newhall decided to move to New York City and pursue his career as a photographer and critic.

It was in the mid-1930s, while working as a curatorial assistant of prints and photographs at the Museum of Modern Art, that Newhall first examined photography at a more in-depth level. He organized major exhibitions of the work of other renowned photographers, and ultimately wrote a series of influential books on the subject of photography. His first book, The History of Photography, was first published in 1937 and sparked passionate debate on the field.

In the early 1940s, Newhall accepted a job at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where he served as its curator of photography and later went on to be chief curator. During this period, Newhall was part of the "Circle of Ansel Adams,” a group of photographers dedicated to the promotion of artistic expression through the medium of photography. His research on Adams’s work was instrumental in helping to establish the break-through style of photography known as “Zone System.”

In 1971, Newhall partnered with the George Eastman House and published his magnum opus, The History of Photography: From 1839 to the Present. This monumental work had involved many years of intensive research, and was considered to be the most important book ever written on the history of photography. It has since been revised several times, and the most recent edition was published in 1982.

Throughout his career, Newhall was noted for his involvement and advocacy for the arts. He championed the new wave of photography, as well as its more traditional forms. He always put an emphasis on the importance of viewing a photograph its own right, rather than examining it merely as an illustration within its historical context. He often spoke of the need to value and recognize the artist behind the work.

Beaumont Newhall was a true pioneer in the art of photography, and to this day, his books remain one of the most revered volumes on the subject. Through his groundbreaking research, he was instrumental in transforming the role of photography in popular culture, and put academics and art institutions around the world on the right path to understanding and appreciating its potential.