A Short History of Photography: From the ICP Collection

In honor of its retiring Ehrenkranz Director Willis Hartshorn, the International Center of Photography presents an engaging survey of its vast and unique collection of photographs. Founded in 1975, as part of the original concept for the Center, the photograph collection at ICP now contains well over 100,000 photographs, ranging from the 1840s to the present. This provocative selection by ICP Chief Curator Brian Wallis is an investigation of the aesthetics and uses of photographic images, and includes well-loved classics as well as little-known works by anonymous photographers. One of the hallmarks of the collection is a focus on alternative histories of photography, including marginalized social practices of photography as well as popular and nonart approaches to the medium. Eugène Atget, W. Eugene Smith, Cindy Sherman, Walker Evans, and André Kertész are among the photographers included in this wide-ranging exhibition.