Photography at MoMA: 1840 to 1920

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.