Photography

The San Diego Museum of Art has continued to build a collection of photography for nearly 10 years. Particularly strong in the work of photographers and photojournalists of the mid-twentieth century, the collection includes works by Margaret Bourke-White, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Alfred Eisenstaedt, and Gjon Mili, among others.

Other large groups include a series of the environmental portraits of artists and politicians by Arnold Newman, as well as a group of works by San Diego-based photographers ranging from Roland Schneider and Florence Kemmler in the 1920s and 1930s to the contemporary artist Eleanor Antin. An additional group of photographs represents the work of Hugo Brehme and others active in documenting Mexican life and landscapes in the nineteenth and early twentieth century.  In 2010, the Museum made a significant acquisition of 66 photographs that outline the complete history of colonial photography in India from 1856 to the 1890’s.

Given the light-sensitive nature of photographic prints, The San Diego Museum of Art displays photography in intermittent focus exhibitions, as well as in special exhibitions from outside institutions. Opening 29 June 2013, The San Diego Museum of Art will feature the internationally-traveling exhibition Arnold Newman: Masterclass, as part of our ongoing commitment to the art of photography.