Transformative decades of contemporary photography from the collection of MoMA

The Museum of Modern Art has one of the greatest collections of 20th-century photography in the world. As one of three volumes dedicated to a new history of photography published by the Museum, this publication comprises a comprehensive catalogue of the collection post-1960s and brings much-needed new critical perspective to the most prominent artists working with the photographic medium of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. At a moment when photography is undergoing fast-paced changes and artists are seeking to redefine its boundaries in new and exciting ways, Photography at MoMA serves as an excellent resource for understanding the expanded field of contemporary photography today.
The book begins with an in-depth introduction followed by eight chapters of full-color plates, each introduced by a short essay. Over 250 artists are featured, including Diane Arbus, John Baldessari, Jan Dibbets, Rineke Dijkstra, William Eggleston, Lee Friedlander, Louise Lawler, Zoe Leonard, Helen Levitt, Sigmar Polke, Cindy Sherman, Wolfgang Tillmans, Jeff Wall, Carrie Mae Weems, Hannah Wilke and Garry Winogrand, among many others.

An epic dive into modernist photography by the museum that helped shape its history

The history of photography has been told many times, but never before through the incomparable collection of photographs at The Museum of Modern Art. As the second volume in a set of three books that together present a new and comprehensive history of photography through works from MoMA's collection, this publication charts the medium during the height of the modernist period, from 1920 to 1960.

Only one other volume--Looking at Photographs, published in 1973--highlights the photographic treasures of MoMA's collection; neither Beaumont Newhall's classic History of Photography nor John Szarkowski's Photography Until Now used the Museum collection as a springboard to approach photography's distinctive history. The Museum's significant role in the development of this history, and in the construction of a canon that championed photography as an art form (but also eclipsed certain alternative or unfamiliar practices) requires a reconsidered history for the 21st century. This publication offers a fresh critical lens through which to appreciate works of exceptional significance, surprise and influence, encouraging creative new readings.

The book begins with an in-depth introduction followed by eight chapters of full-color plates, each introduced by a short essay. Masterworks by photographers such as Alfred Stieglitz, Dorothea Lange, Man Ray and Aleksander Rodchenko appear alongside lesser-known gems, and diverse notions of modernism enrich classic interpretations, so that the beautiful fictions and messy realities of photography are complicated, refreshed and, above all, enjoyed.

Photography at MoMA: 1840 to 1920 is the final volume in a set of three books that together present a new and comprehensive history of photography through works in The Museum of Modern Art's collection.

Illustrated with over 400 reproductions, the book charts the photographic medium from early examples in the 1840s through its participation in international art movements such as Pictorialism and modernism. An in-depth introduction is followed by eight chapters of full-color plates, each introduced by a short essay, offering a fresh lens through which to appreciate works of exceptional significance, surprise and influence, and encouraging creative new readings. Masterworks by photographers such as Julia Margaret Cameron, Roger Fenton, Nadar, Frances Benjamin Johnston, Henry Fox Talbot, August Sander, Edward Steichen and Carleton Watkins appear alongside lesser-known gems and vernacular forms of photography.

Published to accompany an exhibition of highlights from the collection of The Museum of Modern Art at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, in Paris, Being Modern tells the stories of 120 works of art and design acquired by the Museum between its founding in 1929 and the present, providing a unique insight into one of the world's greatest collections of modern and contemporary art.

Featuring paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, sculptures, video, film, architecture and design--from Paul Cézanne's iconic painting The Bather (c. 1885) to a set of the 176 digital emoji we use on our mobile phones every day--the catalogue underscores the diversity and relevance of MoMA's collection while providing a fresh perspective on the modern canon.

The book is organized chronologically according to the year each artwork entered the Museum's collection. Short texts by curators accompany the plates, giving an overview of each work's significance as well as a behind-the-scenes look at the process by which MoMA acquired it. An essay by the Museum's director, Glenn D. Lowry, outlines the history of the institution and puts the collection in context, and a concise chronology charts the Museum's growth. A departure from the usual highlights book, this unique catalog presents MoMA's extraordinary collection from a new angle, telling the story of modern art through the growth of an institution that embraced an aesthetic revolution in the early 20th century and evolved along with it into the 21st.