Photo: Left, Augusta and Arnold Newman in 2000 (photo by Mary Ellen Mark) and in 1949.
The Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education, OJMCHE, announces the creation of a fund to support on-going photography exhibitions through a gift from the Arnold and Augusta Newman Foundation. The gift of $250,000 will create the Arnold and Augusta Newman Photography Fund and will ensure that the museum can bring national and international photography exhibitions to Portland as well as supporting lectures, receptions, workshops, and the acquisition of photographs for the Museum’s permanent collection.
The Foundation’s mission is to further the legacy of Arnold Newman, the influential and revered photographer and educator who had a profound influence on photographers in the latter half of the 20th Century.
“This generous donation makes it possible for OJMCHE to continue to mount powerful photography exhibitions that challenge viewers and share important historical lessons and truths,” said Director Judy Margles. “Over the years the museum has hosted numerous important photography exhibitions, including currently Gillian Laub’s ‘Southern Rites,’ which tells the story of on-going racial violence and tensions in Montgomery County, Georgia. The first exhibition supported by the fund will be next fall’s ‘To Bear Witness – Extraordinary Lives’ an exhibition in partnership with The Immigrant Story and Portland photographer Jim Lommasson. Through photographs and profiles the exhibition will capture, share, and preserve the stories of a small group of individuals from varied backgrounds who left their homelands for safe haven in Oregon. The OJMCHE board, staff, and community are incredibly grateful to board member David Newman and his brother Eric for creating this fund.”
On behalf of the foundation, Eric and David Newman said, “Although our parents were not particularly observant, they were Jewish to their core. This is why our father chose to have exhibits at OJMCHE and why he would be so pleased with the foundation’s gift. OJMCHE affords the unique opportunity to showcase not only the artistic side of photography, but also the journalistic and documentary sides that are so important to tell the story of Jews in Oregon and the world.”
“As for myself, I work the way I do because of the kind of person that I am – my work is an expression of myself. It reflects me, my fascination with people, the physical world around us, and the exciting medium in which I work. I do not claim that my way is the best or the only way, it is simply my way. It is an expression of myself, of the way I think and feel.” – Arnold Newman, A Life in Photography