Top photography collections inspire and educate: you don't have to go to art school to become an expert on master photographers

Art Business News, March, 2003 by Susan Seiling

Other featured artists at the High Museum of Art include Lorna Simpson, William Henry Jackson, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Adams, Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange.

Many photographs in the collection are integrated into the permanent collection display, but photographic exhibitions are featured frequently. The museum is in the process of erecting another building, which will give it the ability to show photographs from the photo collection on a more individualized basis.

George Eastman House, Rochester, N.Y.

George Eastman Home's collection includes more than 400,000 photos and negatives from more than 8,000 photographers utilizing every process and printing medium. These vast holdings serve to document not only photographic images but also the evolution of photographic technology. Highlights include a collection of 3,500 daguerreotypes, early British and French photography, 20,000 Alvin Langdon Coburn prints and negatives and significant collections of William Jennings, Stieglitz and Edward Steichen, among many others.

In addition to ongoing exhibitions, the museum's collections are open to supervised research. Appointments are strongly encouraged.

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

SFMOMA began acquiring photography in 1935, making it one of the first museums on the West Coast to invest in the medium. The collection includes photographs from the 1840s to the present and features works by Weston, John Gutmann, Carrie Mae Weems, Robert Adams, Paul Strand and Man Ray.

SFMOMA's ongoing "Picturing Modernity" exhibition showcases work from the permanent collection. The museum also hosts photographic exhibitions from time to time.

International Center of Photography, New York

This museum is devoted entirely to collecting photography, and as such, it has an amazing range of photographs--from documentary to fine art to fashion. The ICP has 60,000 photographs in its permanent collection, including images by Cartier-Bresson, Lisette Model and Elliot Erwitt.

Exhibitions change frequently, showcasing individual artists, historical eras and features on specific processes. Recent exhibitions in the Center's 17,000 square feet of gallery space included a September 11th retrospective, George Tice's Urban landscapes, images by Helmut Newton and an exhibition titled "Another Vietnam: Photographs of the War from the Other Side."

International Photography Hall of Fame, Oklahoma City

The IPHF is a gem set in the middle of America. Not only can you view the work of 500 of the best photographers in history, but you can also see hundreds of cameras and historical photography equipment. The collection features several thousand photographs, many of which are displayed in the 14,000-square-foot gallery space.

Adams's "Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico," is on permanent display. Recent exhibitions included a show by landscape photographer Philip Hyde and an exhibition of photographs by documentary photographer Gordon Parks. The Hall of Fame also opens its gallery space to contemporary photographers who are not Hall of Fame inductees--a recent show featured the work of professional photographers from Oklahoma.