Hans Namuth; Photographer of American Artists

Hans Namuth, 75, still photographer and cinematographer best known for his pictures of American artists, among them Jackson Pollock. His work ranged from photos of the Spanish Civil War to portraits of Guatemalan Indians. Among the major artists he photographed were Willem and Elaine de Kooning, Helen Frankenthaler, Robert Motherwell, Mark Rothko and Pollock, whose volatile nature he captured on film. Born in Germany, Namuth fled Adolf Hitler in 1933 and traveled in Europe, where he documented the Spanish Civil War. Many of his photos of that war were published in Life magazine. He went to New York City in 1941 and died there on Saturday of injuries suffered in an auto accident.