Photography

Photographs at the Metropolitan Museum : 50 Highlights

The Metropolitan Museum's Department of Photographs surveys the history of photography from its invention in the 1830s to the present. The collection of more than 15,000 works is largely European and American, with some representation of other parts of the world, particularly Japan.

The collection includes pieces from a variety of photographic techniques: early experimental "photogenic drawings" of the 1830s; daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes (one-of-a-kind images exposed on silver-plated copper, glass, and iron, respectively); salted paper prints from paper negatives; albumen silver prints from glass negatives; gum bichromate prints; platinum and palladium prints; gelatin silver prints (the standard black-and-white photograph of the twentieth century); and a variety of types of color photography. Each of the highlights is described in detail.

Smithsonian: Helios Photography Online

Museum of Modern Art : The Photograph Collection

"The Museum began to collect photographs in 1930 and established the department in 1940; its holdings of more than 25,000 works dating from approximately 1840 to the present constitute one of the most important collections of photography in the world. As diverse as photography itself, the collection includes work not only by artists, but also by journalists, scientists, entrepreneurs, and amateurs."

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art: Photography

"SFMOMA retains one of the oldest and most distinguished collections of photography in the world,having begun acquiring work in 1935. The images in the Museum's collection date from the 1840s, with works representing each of the major developments and movements in photography from nineteenth-century photographers to contemporary artists."