24 Facts About Beaumont Newhall

Beaumont Newhall was an American curator, art historian, writer, photographer, and the second director of the George Eastman Museum.

Beaumont Newhall was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, United States, on June 22,1908.

Beaumont Newhall was the son of Herbert W Newhall and Alice Lillia Davis.

Beaumont Newhall 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.

In 1932, after receiving his master's degree from Harvard, Sachs helped Beaumont Newhall obtain a position as a lecturer at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia.

Beaumont 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.

Beaumont Newhall worked briefly for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Massachusetts branch of the Public Works Administration.

The exhibition that Beaumont Newhall mounted was pivotal in securing photography's place within the arts.

In 1940, Beaumont Newhall became the first curator of MoMA's photography department and decisively began collecting for the Museum, starting with the work of Laszlo Moholy-Nagy.

Beaumont Newhall married Nancy Wynne, a notable photography critic who worked in his place as curator at MoMA during his service in World War II.

Beaumont Newhall served as a photo-interpreter of aerial photographs taken over enemy territory in Italy and North Africa.

Beaumont Newhall held the rank of First Lieutenant and later returned to the United States to train others.

In 1946, Beaumont Newhall was invited by Josef Albers to lecture on the history of photography at Black Mountain College.

Beaumont Newhall resigned from MoMA in 1947 after discovering that Edward Steichen was to direct the photography department, while Newhall was to remain as curator.

Beaumont Newhall received a Guggenheim Fellowship and used it to produce a new edition of The History of Photography.

Beaumont Newhall began research into the history of the daguerreotype in America, where its use continued for a decade after becoming obsolete in Europe.

From 1948 to 1958, Beaumont Newhall served as curator of the George Eastman Museum, housed in the former residence of George Eastman in Rochester, New York.

Beaumont Newhall then became its director, a position he held until 1971.

Beaumont Newhall was joined there by Minor White, who took over as editor of Image, the magazine Newhall founded at the Museum.

Beaumont Newhall published several books through the Museum, including Edward Weston's Daybooks, Photographers on Photography, and works on Aaron Siskind.

Beaumont Newhall remained an honorary trustee of the Eastman Museum until his death.

Beaumont Newhall died in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on February 26,1993.

Beaumont Newhall was predeceased by his wife, Nancy, who died on July 7,1974, from injuries sustained when she was struck by a falling tree on the Snake River in Grand Teton National Park.

Beaumont 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.