The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Igor Stravinsky

1946

Arnold Newman

(American, 1918–2006)

Image: 24.5 x 47.6 cm (9 5/8 x 18 3/4 in.); Paper: 40.4 x 50.3 cm (15 7/8 x 19 13/16 in.); Matted: 45.7 x 66 cm (18 x 26 in.)

John L. Severance Fund 1992.53

Location: Not on view

Description

During his long career, which began in the late 1930s, Newman has consistently been one of the most important practitioners of portraiture. Early on he achieved a vivid, personal style that conveys not only a compelling likeness of the sitter, but also reveals his or her personality using suggestive details in the immediate surroundings. For over 50 years he has recorded public figures, including leading politicians, artists, writers, and musicians. This landmark portrait of Igor Stravinsky, taken soon after Newman moved to New York from Miami, remains one of his best. On assignment for Harper’s Bazaar, Newman took some 26 4-x-5-inch exposures of the artist at his piano. The graphic power of this image, with its striking juxtaposition of man and instrument, firmly establishes Newman’s distinctive, innovative style of portraiture.

Turner, Evan H. “The Year in Review for 1992.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 80, no. 2 (February 1993): 38–79. Mentioned: p. 69 www.jstor.org
Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. Reproduced: P. 255
The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA), Cleveland, OH (June 9-August 20, 2006).
MOCA Cleveland (6/9/2006 - 8/20/2006): "The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art", no. 84, p. 121.
{{cite web|title=Igor Stravinsky|url=false|author=Arnold Newman|year=1946|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1992.53