Posing for the Camera: Gifts from Robert B. Menschel

A selection of some 60 photographs in the Gallery’s collection made possible by Robert B. Menschel are on view in an exhibition that examines how the act of posing for a portrait changed with the invention of the medium. 

Featured works come from the early 1840s—just after photography was invented—through the 1990s. The exhibition includes pictures by Lewis Carroll, Edward Weston, Man Ray, Robert Frank, Timothy H. O'Sullivan, and Brassaï, in addition to photographs by scientists, commercial practitioners, and amateurs. 

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website

Image: Oliver H. Willard, Light Artillery, Sergeant, 1866, albumen print, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Robert B. Menschel and the Vital Projects Fund