Walter A. Rosenblum (1919–2006) was an American photographer whose work spanned the decades from 1938-1980. He photographed the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

landing at

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

in 1944, fought through France and Germany, and he was among the first Allied photographers to enter the liberated

Dachau concentration camp Dachau (, ; , ; ) was one of the first concentration camps built by Nazi Germany and the longest-running one, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents, which consisted of communists, s ...

. One of the most highly decorated U.S. Army Signal Corps combat cameramen, Rosenblum received military decorations including a Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Presidential Unit Citation, 4 Battle Stars and an Arrowhead Device. His photography is in collections of museums around the world.

Biography

Rosenblum was born on October 1, 1919, in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. He attended City College. Rosenblum was a member of the New York

Photo League The Photo League was a cooperative of photographers in New York City, New York who banded together around a range of common social and creative causes. Founded in 1936, the League included some of the most noted American photographers of the mid-20 ...

where he was mentored by

Paul Strand Paul Strand (October 16, 1890 – March 31, 1976) was an American photographer and filmmaker who, along with fellow modernist photographers like Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Weston, helped establish photography as an art form in the 20th century. ...

. He became president of the League in 1941. He taught photography at

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls nearly 14,000 students on a campus in the Midwood and Flatbush sections of Brooklyn as of fall ...

for 40 years. From 1952 to 1976, he spent summers in Norfolk, CT, as a professor at the Yale Summer School of Music and Art, where he taught photography. His wife was groundbreaking photographic historian

Naomi Rosenblum Naomi Rosenblum, PhD, (January 26, 1925 – February 19, 2021) was the author "of two landmark histories of photography, ''A World History of Photography'' (1984) and ''A History of Women Photographers'' (1994), and dozens of seminal articles and ...

, author of THE WORLD HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY and A HISTORY OF WOMEN PHOTOGRAPHERS (Abbeville Press). They had two daughters, Lisa, a telecommunications executive and documentary producer/director Nina. Rosenblum died January 23, 2006.

Collections

The J. Paul Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California, United States, housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. It is operated by the J. Paul Getty Trust, the world's wealthiest a ...

The Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, and includes over 200,000 works of arc ...

The Museum of Modern Art

Awards and honors

*Lifetime achievement award -

International Center of Photography The International Center of Photography (ICP) is a photography museum and school at 84 Ludlow Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. ICP's photographic collection, reading room, and archives are at Mana Contemporary in Jer ...

(1998)

Decorations

References

External links

Walter and Naomi Rosenblum Collection of Photography and Photographic History
Fales Library and Special Collections at New York University Special Collections 1919 births 2006 deaths 20th-century American photographers Brooklyn College faculty Recipients of the Silver Star {{US-photographer-stub