Photography Collection
The Photography Collection encompasses the medium’s entire history, from 1839 to the present. It grew from a holding of 1,015 primarily American works to a collection of over 7,500 with the acquisition in December 2005 of the famed Hallmark Photographic Collection, one of the finest private collections of American photography ever assembled. Since that date, further acquisitions and gifts have enlarged the collection to over 8,000 works.
Read more about the Photography Collection
Notable artists represented in the collection include such prominent 19th-century figures as Southworth & Hawes, Mathew Brady, George N. Barnard, Carleton Watkins, Timothy O’Sullivan, and Edward Muybridge; such leading 20th-century names as Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, Edward Weston, Charles Sheeler, André Kertész, Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, Harry Callahan, Robert Frank, W. Eugene Smith, Diane Arbus and many more.
In the Photography galleries, a survey of the creative history of the medium is on view at all times, with new installations presented about three times a year. Medium-scale temporary exhibitions—drawn both from the museum’s permanent collection and borrowed from other institutions—are also presented about three times a year.
The Hallmark Photographic Collection
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art acquired the Hallmark Photographic Collection in December 2005, through a combination gift and purchase. Primarily American in the scope of its holdings, the collection spans the entire history of photography, from the birth of the medium in 1839 to the present. At the time of its acquisition by the Museum, it included more than 6,500 works by 900 artists, with superb examples by virtually all the key American photographers in history.
With this acquisition, the Nelson-Atkins immediately assumed a position as one of the premier museums in the world for photography.
Photography Exhibitions and Programs
Thinking Photography: Five Decades at the Kansas City Art Institute
July 24–Jan. 2, 2011
Gallery L11
Young Friends of Art
Second Friday Happy Hour
6-8 p.m., Friday, Sept. 10
Meet the Artist!
7-7:30 p.m. | Lens 2
Gallery L11
Join one of the Thinking Photography featured artists, photographer Nicole Cawlfield, for an informal talk. Cash bar with special prices for members.
The Artists are IN!
Thinking Photography: Five Decades at the Kansas City Art Institute
7-8 p.m., Friday, Oct. 8
Gallery L11
Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI) alumni and exhibition artists Dana Fritz and Frank Hamilton join curator April M. Watson for an informal discussion about the history of the KCAI’s photography program as it relates to the works on exhibit.
Artists' Talk
Jerry Uelsmann & Maggie Taylor
1–2 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 30
Atkins Auditorium | Free; tickets required.
Join surrealist photographer Jerry Uelsmann and digital-master Maggie Taylor as they discuss the surprising imagery used in their otherworldly art. Sponsored by the Photography Society.
The Photography Society
In response to a strong expression of community interest, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art has recently established a new special interest group, The Photography Society.
Find out more information and how to join the Photography Society.
Publications
A definitive look at the overall scope of the museum’s photography collection is provided by these two books, which together comprise an unprecedented history of American photography, the first from 1839 to 1885, the second from 1885 to the present:
The Origins of American Photography, From Daguerreotype to Dry-Plate, 1839-1885, by Keith F. Davis and Jane L. Aspinwall (Yale University Press,2007).
An American Century of Photography: From Dry-Plate to Digital; The Hallmark Photographic Collection, by Keith F. Davis (Hallmark Cards/Abrams, 1999).
Publications on individual bodies of work within the overall collection include the following:
The Photographs of Homer Page: The Guggenheim Year: New York, 1949-50 (Hall Family Foundation/Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art/Yale University Press, 2009).
The Photographs of Dorothea Lange, by Keith F. Davis, with contributions by Kelle A. Botkin (Hallmark Cards/Abrams, 1995).
The Passionate Observer: Photographs by Carl Van Vechten, by Keith F. Davis (Hallmark Cards/University of New Mexico Press, 1993).
Clarence John Laughlin: Visionary Photographer, edited by Keith F. Davis (Hallmark Cards/University of New Mexico Press, 1990).
George N. Barnard: Photographer of Sherman's Campaign, by Keith F. Davis (Hallmark Cards/University of New Mexico Press, 1990).
Todd Webb: Photographs of New York and paris, 1945-1960, by Keith F. Davis (Hallmark Cards/University of New Mexico Press, 1988).
