Selections from the Collection
Clarence H. White (American, 1871–1925), The Cave, ca. 1899. Platinum print. George Eastman Museum, Gift of Mrs. Raymond C. Collins.
Unidentified, Frame containing 28 individual portraits of men, women, and children, ca. 1869. Ambrotypes, tintypes, and pannotypes in wooden frame. George Eastman Museum, gift of Mrs. Alden Scott Boyer, ex collection Alden Scott Boyer, 1954.
Lala Deen Dayal (Indian, 1844–1905), The Great Temple inside the Elephanta Cave, ca. 1882. Albumen silver print. George Eastman Museum, gift of the Rush Rhees Library, University of Rochester, 1983.
Tina Modotti (Italian, 1896–1942), Piñatas, 1923–1929. Gelatin silver print. George Eastman Museum, museum accession, 1974.
Margaret Bourke White (American, 1904–1971), Colorado Dust Bowl, 1954. Gelatin silver print. George Eastman Museum, museum accession, 1971.
Ryuji Taira (Japanese, b. 1960), Flowers & Seeds, 2004. Platinum/palladium print on Japanese gampi paper. George Eastman Museum, purchase with funds from Drs. Bruce Barnes and Joseph Cunningham, and Jamie M. Allen and Al Carver Kubik in honor of Janice G. Ashley, 2024.
In this iteration of Selections from the Collection, a combination of new acquisitions, recent rediscoveries, and foundational objects offer insights into the history of photography. The objects on view incorporate photographic intersections with histories of art, culture, journalism, science, and technology. Throughout, common subject matter, compositional strategies, and themes demonstrate the interconnected visual languages of photography. These selections reflect the varied activities of the museum and its communities, drawing from a collection built, researched, and cared for by generations of colleagues and supporters over 75 years.
This selection includes work by an international group of photographers, spanning the medium’s more than 185-year history. Over the course of the exhibition's run, certain objects will be replaced, offering new perspectives and connections within the display.
About the Collection Gallery
The George Eastman Museum photography collection is among the best and most comprehensive in the world. With holdings that include objects ranging in date from the announcement of the medium’s invention in 1839 to the present day, the collection represents the full history of photography. Works by renowned masters of the medium exist side-by-side with vernacular and scientific photographs. The collection also includes all applications of the medium, from artistic pursuit to commercial enterprise and from amateur pastime to documentary record, as well as all types of photographic processes, from daguerreotypes to digital prints.
The museum's Collection Gallery is dedicated to rotating installations that demonstrate photography’s historical trajectory through photographs and cameras drawn from the collection. The selection of photographs changes regularly, and each rotation offers new opportunities to engage with the museum's treasures.
For videos and a glossary of the photographic processes, visit eastman.org/processglossary.
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