New to View: Recent Acquisitions in Photography

Man Ray, American, 1890-1976, Le violon d'Ingres, 1924, (printed 1950), gelatin silver print, Stoddard Acquisition Fund, 2005.22

Through April 15, 2006

New to View begins the Museum's second century of collecting photography with a selection of its newest photographic treasures, acquired during the past five years, and never before on view. In 1904, the Worcester Art Museum became one of the nation's first to exhibit photography as fine art. This eventful history was documented in last year's anniversary exhibition Photography at the Worcester Art Museum: Keeping Shadows, which is still on national tour. In recent decades, as recognition of photographic art has grown, and the popularity of collecting has ignited a thriving market, the Museum has kept pace through careful purchases and generous gifts to the collection. New to View showcases this dynamically growing collection. Among the works shown are historical photographs from the nineteenth century, including the work of Josiah Johnson Hawes. Hawes was one of Boston's first professional photographers, as was the portraitist John Adams Whipple, and Edwin Hale Lincoln, who made dynamic photographs of ships under sail. The exhibition also features Outward Bound, a platinum print by the father of creative photography in America, Alfred Stieglitz, who placed a shipboard portrait in a setting that presaged Modernism. In the Surrealist masterpiece Le violon d'Ingres, Man Ray decorated his lover's back with the f-holes of a violin, transforming the image and provoking a range of associations. Important acquisitions of contemporary photography are also shown, including a haunting portrait by Bill Jacobson, Seamus Ryan's crisp studies of abstract form in seashells, and a fascinating view from inside a camera obscura by Abelardo Morell.

Related Events

January Tour of the Month: Finding Photography
Wednesday, January 18, 2PM
Saturday, January 21, 2PM
Curious about photography? Interested in seeing what the Museum has been collecting in recent years? Join us on this special trip through recent acquisitions in the Museum's collection of photographs. Museum docent Pat Peterson will lead this tour.

Select Images from the Exhibition