What was Newman's idea when he created his famous work?

Newman’s most famous work is a portrait he took of the composer Stravinsky. In the photo, a grand piano occupies four-fifths of the picture, and the composer is in a corner. There is a subtle sense of melody between the figure and the piano. At the same time, the large triangle formed by the piano cover and pillars echoes the small triangle formed by the composer holding his head in thought, just like the main melody in the music is varied on different instruments with different tones of different strengths and weaknesses. This photo was taken in 1946, when Newman was just a budding young man in the American photography world. Regarding the conception of this photo, Newman once recalled: I have a special interest in the different shapes of various musical instruments, and I was trying to photograph the shapes of these musical instruments at the time. I use this as a starting point. The lines of a grand piano are very beautiful and very strong, and that's how I feel about Stravinsky's music. I immediately thought of photographing the composer and the piano together. To set off the composer and the piano, Newman shined a spotlight on the white wall and used reflected light for illumination. Because the reflected light is softer, no shadows are produced. At the same time, the contrasting tone of black and white formed by the white wall and the piano is very similar to the strong, rough and vigorous style of the composer's music. During the filming process, Newman constantly changed the characters' positions and postures, and took a total of 26 negatives. After careful screening, Newman selected one of the images and cut it out in post-production to create this masterpiece.