Highlights from the Photography Collection

The Photography Collection at The Nelson-Atkins encompasses the full history of the medium, from 1839 to the present. A diverse selection of works celebrating our rich holdings, from daguerreotypes to digitally composed photographs, will be on view in our photography galleries.

Since photography’s invention around 1839, photographers have used the camera for artistic expression, documentation, and scientific study. Though its technology and techniques have changed throughout history, photography has remained our most prolific means for engaging with the world. As an art form, photographs express personal ideas and emotions, and explore new ways of seeing. Photographs have shaped our cultures and our collective memories, at times calling attention to social injustices and history’s omissions. Foremost, photography has allowed us to better understand our complex histories and our place in time.​

The photographs on display engage with these ideas in a variety of ways, reflecting the depth and breadth of our collection. Artists include: Jeremiah Gurney, William Henry Fox Talbot, Carleton Watkins, Alfred Stieglitz, Margaret Bourke-White, Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, Helen Levitt, Irving Penn, Roy DeCarava, Diane Arbus, Joel Meyerowitz, Peter Hujar, Graciela Iturbide, Tseng Kwong Chi, Carrie Mae Weems, Sally Mann, Julie Blackmon, LaToya Rudy Frazier, Marcus Brunetti, and Deana Lawson.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website