The Levines first embarked on the creation of what became one of theworld’s most significant photography collections in private hands nearly four decades ago. A Rare Gift pays tribute to their foresight, as they were among the few early collectors to recognize the promise of photography as a major art form.
Never before on view in its entirety outside the couple’s New York home,this extraordinary collection inaugurates the Robert and Rena (Fisch) Lewin Gallery and Mr. and Mrs. Henry R. Kravis Gallery in the upper level of the Museum’s reconfigured Edmond and Lily Safra Fine Arts Wing. Details of the exhibition can be found here.
The Levine Collection embraces the medium of photography as a whole, focusing broadly across periods, styles, and schools, from the 1840s through the present day. The collection includes notable examples of vintage 19th-century photography, among them: Iconic calotypes by the British practitioners David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, and signature examples of pictorialism by Julia Margaret Cameron.
A copy of the exhibition catalogue can be found here, and a sample of the exhibits can be seen here.
Photo: Portrait of an Unknown Man, 1898
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