Naomi Savage

1927Jersey City, United States | 2005Princeton, United States
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Naomi Savage — AWARE Women artists / Femmes artistes

Man Ray, Naomi Savage, 1950s, color transparency photograph, back-coated with gouache, Smithsonian American Art Museum, © Man Ray Trust

American photographer.

In 1943 at the New School for Social Research in New York, Naomi Savage studied photography with Berenice Abbott, who was the assistant of her uncle Man Ray. From 1945 to 1947, she studied fine arts, music and photography at Bennington College in Vermont, before joining Man Ray in Hollywood, where he introduced her to experimental photographic techniques. After one year by his side, she established herself as a freelance photographer in New York and married the artist and architect David Savage in 1950. Although the influence of her uncle is undeniable, she nevertheless succeeded in developing a personal approach to photography, pushing beyond the innovations of the avant-gardes of the 20th century. Her range of subjects was vast: portraits, landscapes, statues, masks, flowers and abstract forms. She worked in “series”, experimenting sometimes over several decades with various techniques on the same original image, exploring a great variety of techniques and materials: combining positive and negative proofs, multiple exposures, solarisation, distortion, aluminium negatives, photograms, cliché-verres, as well as photo collages, photographs screen-printed on canvas, or even photo-engravings that allowed her to create images in relief – a technique that earned her recognition in the art world.

One of her most celebrated works is undoubtedly a “photo-engraving mural” (1972) realised for the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library in Austin, Texas. Made in magnesium, 2.4 metres high and over 15 metres long, the work is dedicated to the political life of Lyndon B. Johnson, president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. At the end of her career, the artist favoured more contemporary techniques such as digital imaging and coloured photocopies. By extending the classical uses of the camera as well as methods of drawing, she was able to expand the purely reproductive nature of the photographic medium by demonstrating the possibilities for experimentation that it allows.

Julie Jones

Translated from French by Katia Porro.

From the Dictionnaire universel des créatrices
© 2013 Des femmes – Antoinette Fouque
© Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions
Naomi Savage — AWARE Women artists / Femmes artistes

Naomi Savage, Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray and Laurie Savage, 1963, photograph, 25.4 x 20.32 cm, collection particulière, © Estate of Naomi Savage

Naomi Savage — AWARE Women artists / Femmes artistes

Naomi Savage, Mural for the Lyndon Baines Johnson library, 1971, five acid-etched magnesium plates, each 243.84 x 304.8 cm, Austin, © Estate of Naomi Savage

Naomi Savage — AWARE Women artists / Femmes artistes

Naomi Savage, Madonna, 1971, 27.30 x 34.29 cm, private collection, © Estate of Naomi Savage

Naomi Savage — AWARE Women artists / Femmes artistes

Naomi Savage, Eisenhower and L.B.J., ca. 1973, intaglio from photo-engraving, Smithsonian American Art Museum, © Estate of Naomi Savage

Naomi Savage — AWARE Women artists / Femmes artistes

Naomi Savage, Mask, 1960, photograph multiple-toned, 54.4 x 17.5 cm, MoMA, © Estate of Naomi Savage

Naomi Savage — AWARE Women artists / Femmes artistes

Naomi Savage, Ozymandias, 1967, photo-engraving, Smithsonian American Art Museum, © Estate of Naomi Savage

Naomi Savage — AWARE Women artists / Femmes artistes

Naomi Savage, Peacock Feather, 1980, embossed photo-engraving with hand-colored additions, 26.03 x 33.65 cm, private collection, © Estate of Naomi Savage

Naomi Savage — AWARE Women artists / Femmes artistes

Naomi Savage, Photograph of Philip Roth’s wife, Margaret Martinson, ca. 1960, photograph, 33.02 x 25.4 cm, private collection, © Estate of Naomi Savage

Naomi Savage — AWARE Women artists / Femmes artistes

Naomi Savage, Portrait, 1965, gelatin silver print, 24.2 x 29.3 cm, MoMA, © Estate of Naomi Savage

Naomi Savage — AWARE Women artists / Femmes artistes

Naomi Savage, Tweed, 1960, photograph multiple-toned, 17.8 x 15.9 cm, MoMA, © Estate of Naomi Savage

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