Another Way of Telling: Women Photographers from the Collection

In our current season of civil protest in which women are at the forefront, asserting their voices, it seems appropriate and timely to explore work by several generations of women photographers. 

On view in this exhibition are exceptional and rare photographs spanning the history of the medium, including examples by pioneers Diane Arbus, Julia Margaret Cameron, and Anne Brigman and contemporary artists Kelli Connell, Ann Parker, and Elaine Stocki.

In this diverse selection of pictures, women explore ideas about identity in and out of the studio, interrogate female roles in the domestic sphere, and disrupt perceptions of the world through street photography. By including over a dozen new acquisitions, this exhibition also demonstrates our ongoing efforts to more fully represent women artists in the collection and amplify their voices.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website

Whether you go or not, A History of Women Photographers is the only comprehensive survey of women photographers from the age of the daguerreotype to the present day. In this edition, featuring more than 300 illustrations, author Naomi Rosenblum expands the book’s coverage to include additional photographers and new images. The text and the appendix of photographer biographies have been revised throughout, and the afterword evaluates the influence of rapidly changing digital technology on the field of photography and the standing of women photographers in the twenty-first century.  

Women have had a special relationship with the camera since the advent of photographic technology in the mid-nineteenth century. Photographers celebrated women as their subjects, from intimate family portraits and fashion spreads to artistic photography and nude studies, including Man Ray’s Violon d’Ingres. Lesser known— and lesser studied— is the history of women photographers, who continue to make invaluable contributions to this flourishing art form.

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