Abstract
How useful were the 1989 celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the announcement of photographic processes for reviewing American conceptions of photography? There were large and important shows with hefty catalogues, notably "On the Art of Fixing a Shadow," put on jointly by Washington's National Gallery and the Art Institute of Chicago, and moving to The Los Angeles County Museum at the end of the year. The Museum of Modern Art waited for 1990 with its "Photography Until Now" review arranged by John Szarkowski. The most ambitious project, "The Art of Photography, 1839-1989," with almost 500 pictures and an over-400-page catalogue, was deployed only at Houston's Museum of Fine Arts before departing for Canberra and London, where it had actually been planned. There were smaller shows, such as "A Panorama of Photography: 150 Years Since Daguerre" by the Worcester Art Museum and "Capturing an Image: a Century and a Half of Fine Photography," shared between the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and Harvard's Fogg Museum. Art museum colloquia included "Memory of Light" at the Detroit Institute (with various photo exhibits) and another, exhibiting rare and valuable images at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu, to which someone neglected to invite me.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
