Marvin E. Newman // Art Edition No. 151–225 ‘Broadway, 1954’

Art Edition (151–225), with the print Broadway (1954), each numbered and signed by Marvin E. Newman.

In 1952, after studying photography at Chicago’s Institute of Design, native New Yorker Marvin E. Newman returned to his hometown. Like many artists before, he set about chronicling the city. Unlike his predecessors, Newman chose color photography as the preeminent medium for capturing the people, landmarks, chaos, and energy of the self-proclaimed Greatest City in the World, commenting, “We see in color, so black and white is technically a handicap for representing the world.”

Today, Newman’s vivid images are lauded by the likes of Eastman House, MoMA, and the International Center of Photography, but remain largely undiscovered beyond a prestigious collector and gallery circle. In this stately Art Edition, TASCHEN presents the photographer’s first ever career monograph, featuring some 170 pictures from the late 1940s through to the early 1980s, and accompanied by the signed photographic print Broadway, 1954.

Newman like all great photographers has the ability to capture a moment in time, in this case a classic urban scene, and imbue it with a timeless quality. This image, the cover of the book, is a hidden gem found so deep in Newman’s rich archive that he himself had almost forgotten about. It is a perfect counterpoint to the chaos and complexity of his other Broadway shots, offering exquisite period detail in the clothing and the magazine stand, and colors enhanced by the rich Kodachrome film. The main figure exudes a captivating calm as the city swirls relentlessly around him.

The signed Art Edition volume includes other vivid tableaux across New York, as well as top shots from Newman’s sports photography portfolio for the likes of Life, Look, and Sports Illustrated, and images from the Midwest; Chicago; a vintage 1950s circus; a legalized brothel in Reno, Nevada; Las Vegas; Alaska; and the West Coast. With a new essay by critic and scholar Lyle Rexer, this first chronological retrospective offers due recognition to an outstanding talent and a tribute to New York in all its thrilling, chaotic, and stately glory.