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Featured Photographers

The library's image collections include photographs by thousands of photographers, from anonymous cameramen to well-known art photographers. Many pioneers in this field are represented in the collection, such as Robert Jefferson Bingham, Caldesi & Montecchi, Auguste and Louis Bisson, Leopoldo and Giuseppe Alinari, Juan Laurent, and Adolphe Braun. The department also holds examples by artists primarily celebrated as fine art photographers, including Paul Nadar, Alexander Liberman, Tina Modotti, and Brassaï.

Today the department fosters many mutually beneficial relationships with gifted photographers and art historians who initiate and coordinate photographic campaigns. The following is a selection of individuals whose particular interests have strengthened the collection considerably. Gifts are noted with an asterisk.

andrews

Wayne Andrews
American and European modern architecture; of particular interest are works by Rudolph Schindler and Le Corbusier (4,200 photographs). More

gilchrist

Archivision Digital Research Library (Scott Gilchrist)
Images of architecture, archaeological sites, gardens, parks and works of art (4,700 slides; 58,000 digital images)

austin

James Austin
British and European architecture (8,700 photographs). More

francis-bedford

Francis Bedford
Architectural views and landscapes of British scenery, 1850s -1880s (4,397 photographs and 2 index volumes). More

bohm

Osvaldo Böhm
Venetian art and architecture (7,300 photographs). More

brumfield

William Craft Brumfield*
Primarily Russian architecture, as well as sites in other former Soviet republics, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Lithuania, Poland, and Ireland (approximately 40,000 negatives, 126,158 digital files, and 12,415 photographs to date). See Travels Across Russia features: Avant-Garde, Murom, Torzhok, and EkaterinburgMore

bullaty-lomeo

Sonja Bullaty and Angelo Lomeo
European painting from private collections and dealers, including Knoedler and Acquavella Galleries. Their work is also included in the Kress Collection of Historic Images (3,300 photographs)

busch

Harald Busch
German and Central European art and architecture (6,000 photographs). More

david-finn2

David Finn
Ancient through contemporary sculpture from Finn’s publications and projects (100,000 negatives and transparencies with corresponding black-and-white photographs). More

fuhrerprojekt

Führerprojekt Photographers (act. 1943-1945)
These color slides are part of the historic 'Führerprojekt', or Farbdiaarchiv zur Wand-und Deckenmalerei (Color Slide Archive of Wall and Ceiling Painting), an official Nazi archive of endangered immovable art in the Third Reich that was produced by order of Adolf Hitler at the height of World War II beginning in 1943. Also included are a selection of color slides from the separate Endangered German and Austrian Stained Glass Survey. More

Adolphe Giraudon*

Ancient and European sculpture and architecture (1,000 photographs). More

hutzel

Max Hutzel
Italian provincial art and architecture (15,600 photographs). More

katz

Paul Katz*
Portraits of artists and their studios in the Manhattan art world from the 1960s through 1970s (1,880 photographs, negatives and slides)  

thomas-keith

Thomas Keith
Scottish photographer active from 1852 to 1856 (six waxed-paper negatives). More

kennedy

Clarence Kennedy
Portfolios of Greek and 15th-century Florentine sculpture (680 photographs and digital files). More

lieberman

Ralph Lieberman
Italian, French, and American art and architecture (5,200 photographs, and 700 digital files to date). More

macdonald

William MacDonald
Ancient architecture (500 photographs). More

moser2

Lida Moser*
Photographs of artists and architecture in New York, with a particular focus on the painter John Koch (744 photographs and negatives, some by purchase). More

Pietro Poppi (Fotografia dell'Emilia)
Italian art and architecture, predominately from the Emilia-Romagna region and the city of Bologna (c. 200 photographs). More

george-piltz

Georg Piltz
Architecture in East Germany following the Second World War to the 1970s (8,804 negatives). More

rabin

Nathan Rabin*
Negatives created for various collectors, art dealers, galleries and publications. Modern and contemporary art, the archive also contains images of non-Western objects and some works created prior to 1900 (27,000 negatives and 1,300 photographs to date)

foto-reali

Foto Reali
Florentine firm that surveyed private collections in the early twentieth century. Some photographs show works in situ. Contini-Bonacossi, Cini, Volterra, and Acton are among the private collections represented. (4,000 photographs, negatives and digital files). For more information, see Digital Projects. More

rigamonti

Franco Rigamonti
Roman baroque art and architecture (8,200 photographs and negatives). More

albert-rudomine

Albert Rudomine
Franco-Russian photographer who worked for the French National Museums (40 photographs). More

sandoval

Judith Hancock Sandoval
Mexican colonial and Nicaraguan architecture (16,500 photographs). More

shunk-kender

Shunk-Kender (Harry Shunk and János Kender)*
Documenting the work of artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude (2,460 photographs). More

sigismondi

Roberto Sigismondi (Foto Arte Italiana)
Italian art and architecture especially lesser-known monuments (15,400 photographs and 26,000 digital files to date). More

smith

William A. Smith*
Portraits of artists in their studios and at home by American artist William A. Smith. Subjects include artists from around the world who were active in the mid-20th century (147 photographs and 100 digital files)

Turner

Benjamin Brecknell Turner
Portrait, architectural and landscape photographer, 1850s-1880s. (421 photographs and negatives).  More

The library is open Monday through Friday 11:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. We are closed Saturday, Sunday, and federal holidays.

To help us prepare materials ahead of your initial visit, we recommend you request an appointment.

Location
National Gallery of Art East Building
4th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC

Mailing Address
Image Collections
National Gallery of Art
2000 South Club Drive
Landover, MD 20785

Contact [email protected] or call (202) 842-6026