News Release: March 22, 1999

"Photographs from the Collection" at the National Gallery of Art, April 25 - July 5, 1999

Washington, DC -- Recent acquisitions of photography by celebrated artists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries will be on view, many for the first time, in the exhibition Photographs from the Collection at the National Gallery of Art, East Building, April 25 through July 5, 1999. Approximately seventy works reveal the remarkable ability of gifted artists such as William Henry Fox Talbot, Julia Margaret Cameron, Eugène Atget, Charles Sheeler, André Kertész, and others to transform the recognizable, known, and commonplace into something new and unfamiliar.

The exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Art.

The exhibition is made possible by The Circle of the National Gallery of Art.

"Since 1983 the National Gallery has presented a series of monographic exhibitions honoring the work of some of America's most celebrated photographers. We are extremely grateful to The Circle for making possible this current exhibition of recent acquisitions, which features some of the most eloquent images the medium has ever seen," said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art.

Other nineteenth-century photographers represented in the exhibition include Eugène Cuvelier, Franc Chauvassaignes, Dr. Hugh Welch Diamond, Robert Howlett, Charles-Victor Hugo with Auguste Vacquerie, Gustave Le Gray, John Moran, Nadar, and Carleton E. Watkins. There are also works by twentieth-century photographers Berenice Abbott, Robert Adams, Ilse Bing, Bill Brandt, Harry Callahan, Roy DeCarava, Robert Frank, László Moholy-Nagy, August Sander, David Smith, Frederick Sommer, Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand, and Edward Weston.

The exhibition is arranged chronologically with the first room devoted to nineteenth-century portraits and landscapes; the second room featuring the 1910s, 1920s, and 1930s; and the third gallery showing twentieth-century and contemporary works.

The exhibition has been organized by Sarah Greenough, curator of photographs, National Gallery of Art.

History of the Gallery's Photography Collection

Today the National Gallery's collection of approximately 2,500 photographs encompasses the history of the medium from its beginnings in 1839, concentrating on the finest examples by masters of this medium. In 1949, artist Georgia O'Keeffe donated the key set of 1,270 photographs made by her husband Alfred Stieglitz, who had died three years previously. O'Keeffe gave the Gallery 330 more photographic masterpieces in 1980, making the Gallery's Alfred Stieglitz Collection of 1,600 photographs the most complete and finest holding of his work in existence.

Between 1990 and 1994 the Gallery began to expand its photography collection by acquiring the work of key photographers in depth. Significant gifts were received of outstanding photographs by Walker Evans, Paul Strand, and Robert Frank. In 1995 the first nineteenth-century works were added to the collection as well as additional twentieth-century masterpieces. Over the past four years more than 250 photographs have been acquired, including works by more than twenty-five artists not previously represented in the collection.

General Information

The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden are at all times free to the public. They are located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, and are open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The Gallery is closed on December 25 and January 1. For information call (202) 737-4215 or the Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) at (202) 842-6176, or visit the Gallery's Web site at www.nga.gov.

Visitors will be asked to present all carried items for inspection upon entering the East and West Buildings. Checkrooms are free of charge and located at each entrance. Luggage and other oversized bags must be presented at the 4th Street entrances to the East or West Building to permit x-ray screening and must be deposited in the checkrooms at those entrances. For the safety of visitors and the works of art, nothing may be carried into the Gallery on a visitor's back. Any bag or other items that cannot be carried reasonably and safely in some other manner must be left in the checkrooms. Items larger than 17 x 26 inches cannot be accepted by the Gallery or its checkrooms.

For additional press information please call or send inquiries to:

Press Office
National Gallery of Art
2000B South Club Drive
Landover, MD 20785
phone: (202) 842-6353 e-mail: pressinfo@nga.gov

Deborah Ziska
Chief of Press and Public Information
(202) 842-6353
ds-ziska@nga.gov

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