In 1950, LIFE Magazine assigned Arnold Newman a photo story which surveyed major U.S. museums and their recent acquisitions. The article was titled “What Do U.S. Museums Buy?”
In this gallery you will find images, documents, correspondence, sketches and personal notes that illustrate Arnold’s process when on assignment.
“What Do U.S. Museums Buy?”
Photographed for LIFE by Arnold Newman
“…To learn what is going into U.S. public collections these days, LIFE set out to find what leading museums purchased in the past year….On the following pages LIFE shows a cross section of what six U.S. museums purchased during the year.”