Milton Halberstadt (1919–2000) was a US photographer in fine art and commercial photography who left a body of work covering genres from abstract art to commercial photography.

Early life and education

Halberstadt grew up in Boston, Massachusetts and attended the Mechanic Arts High School, which taught mechanical trades."Oral history interview with Ernst Halberstadt, 1979 Feb. 16"

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

, Reference Department,

Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washingt ...

, Washington. D.C. He then studied at the

Massachusetts School of Art The Massachusetts School of Art is an historic academic building at 364 Brookline Avenue in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. The four-story Gothic/Art Deco building was designed by the architectural firm of Henry & Richmond, a ...

. Afterwards, he studies at the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

and the Institute of Design (founded in 1937 as New Bauhaus by designer-painter

László Moholy-Nagy László Moholy-Nagy (; ; born László Weisz; July 20, 1895 – November 24, 1946) was a Hungarian painter and photographer as well as a professor in the Bauhaus school. He was highly influenced by constructivism and a strong advocate of the i ...

). He served as an assistant to both László Moholy-Nagy and

György Kepes György Kepes �ɟøɾɟ ˈkɛpɛʃ(October 4, 1906 – December 29, 2001) was a Hungarian-born painter, photographer, designer, educator, and art theorist. After immigrating to the U.S. in 1937, he taught design at the New Bauhaus (later the Sc ...

. He served as a

US Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

navigator during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in the

456th Bombardment Group Activated in June 1943 as a heavy bombardment group. Trained with B-24 Liberators for duty overseas. Moved to Italy, December 1943 – January 1944. Began combat with Fifteenth Air Force in February 1944, operating chiefly against strategic tar ...

. While a second lieutenant, he was a navigator aboard a

B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models des ...

called "Texas Ranger" flying over Yugoslavia in 1944 when his aircraft was hit by enemy fire. Despite severe injuries, Halberstadt guided the plane down safely and he received the Distinguished Flying Cross medal for heroism in aerial combat. M. Halberstadt Illustration studio in San Francisco produced fine

large format Large format refers to any imaging format of or larger. Large format is larger than "medium format", the or size of Hasselblad, Mamiya, Rollei, Kowa, and Pentax cameras (using 120- and 220-roll film), and much larger than the frame o ...

studio photography. Halberstadt's clients included Del Monte, Dole, S&W, Paul Masson, Pan-Am Airlines, and Royal Viking Lines. The Milton "Hal" Halberstadt Papers and Photograph Collection resides at University of California Davis special collections archives.

Chronology

*1919 Born *1936 Began professional photography career in Boston after high school. In his early work he documented the streets of his native Boston for the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

(WPA) National Research Project. *1940 Rockefeller foundation Scholarship to the School of Design, Chicago (New Bauhaus) *1943 Served as a navigator of a bomber during World War II *1945-1973 M. Halberstadt Illustration Photography Studio in San Francisco *1973- Taught fine photography at

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different b ...

and the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

*2000 Died

Print references

*Warren, Lynne. ''Encyclopedia of Twentieth-century Photography'' CRC Press, 2006. *Comer, Stephanie, et al. ''The Moment of Seeing: Minor White at the California School of Fine Arts '' Chronicle Books, 2006. *Susan Ehrens. ''B&W Magazine Millenium Issue #5'' B&W Magazine, February, 2000. *Court, Arthur. ''Minerals; Nature's Fabulous Jewels, photography by Milton Halberstadt'' Abrams, 1974. *Kepes, György. ''Language of Vision'' Credited as Halbe, Paul Theobald Company, 1961. *Moholy-Nagy, Laszlo. ''Vision in Motion'' Credited as Halbe, Paul Theobald Company, 1947. *The Editors of Time-Life Books, ''The Studio'', Life Library of Photography, numerous printings.

Exhibitions

*''Contemporary Art, Museum of Fine Art'', Houston, Texas, 1948. *''Pioneer Photographers''

Addison Gallery of American Art The Addison Gallery of American Art is an academic museum dedicated to collecting American art, organized as a department of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. History Directors of the gallery include Bartlett H. Hayes, Jr. (1940– ...

, Andover, Massachusetts, 1948. *''Subjektive Fotographie, 2nd International Exhibit of Modern Photography''. *''State School of Arts & Crafts'', Saarbrücken, Germany, 1954. *''Fine Arts Exhibit IV'', Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1966. *''American Photography: The Sixties'', Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, 1968. *''Affrischer Fran Califrien'' GavIe Museum, Stockholm, Sweden, 1968. *''Art in Embassies'', A Program of the United States Dept. of State. *''Ten Californian Photographers'', 1973. *''Photography + The City'' Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1965. *''Retrospective: Photographs 1936-81'', Douglas Elliott Galleries, San Francisco, 1981. *''Taken by Design: Photographs From the Institute of Design, 1937–1971'', Art Institute of Chicago, 2002. *''A Mind at Play'', Art Institute of Chicago, 2008.

Permanent collections

, Andover, Massachusetts. *

George Eastman House The George Eastman Museum, also referred to as ''George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film'', the world's oldest museum dedicated to photography and one of the world's oldest film archives, opened to the public in 1949 in ...

, Rochester, New York. *

Polaroid Corporation Polaroid is an American company best known for its instant film and cameras. The company was founded in 1937 by Edwin H. Land, to exploit the use of its Polaroid polarizing polymer. Land ran the company until 1981. Its peak employment was 21,00 ...

, Cambridge, Massachusetts. *

, Washington, D.C.. *

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, New York. *The Oakland Museum of Art, Oakland, California. *

Center for Creative Photography The Center for Creative Photography (CCP), established in 1975 and located on the University of Arizona's Tucson campus, is a research facility and archival repository containing the full archives of over sixty of the most famous American pho ...

, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.

Film

*''Photography - The Incisive Art'' (Ansel Adams' series of 5 films for KQED) ''Professional Photography'' with Ansel Adams, Beaumont Newhall and others, 1960.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Halberstadt, Milton 1919 births 2000 deaths 20th-century American photographers Art Institute of Chicago Mechanic Arts High School alumni Works Progress Administration workers Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States) San Francisco State University faculty United States Army Air Forces officers United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II