Skip to Content

Note: Museum is closed 4/25 and 4/29 for Art Alive installation and de-installation. Special Art Alive hours and ticketing are in place 4/26-4/28. Learn More

Emphasizing iconic images by some of the most famous photographers from the 20th century to the present, this exhibition presents a broad sampling from the substantial holdings of local collectors Cam and Wanda Garner. This group of pictures, diverse in subject, style, photographic medium, and chronology, presents an occasion to reflect on photography’s role in history and society, and to consider its future trajectory.

The exhibition is grouped thematically into three sections. The first, Reflections on Nature, presents a variety of landscapes, including work by the acclaimed Ansel Adams and Minor White, and organic aesthetics. Things as They Are analyzes documents of the city, society, and conflict with familiar examples from Berenice Abbott, Margaret Bourke-White, and Henri Cartier-Bresson. The final section, Manipulating Reality, looks at expressions of abstraction and allegory in the medium from early 20th-century work by Frank Eugene and Manuel Álvarez Bravo, to the contemporary cinematic dreamscapes of Gregory Crewdson.

Originally installed in November 2020, but closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Masters of Photography: The Garner Collection is now reopening to the public November 20, 2021–February 21, 2022.

No photography is allowed within this exhibition.

Read the full Masters of Photography exhibition label text in English and Spanish.

Featured Works

The Pine Sprite

Anne Brigman. The Pine Sprite, 1911. Gelatin silver print. Collection of Cam and Wanda Garner.

Anne Brigman was a preeminent Pictorialist and an early member of Alfred Steiglitz’s enormously influential Photo-Secession group Her work frequently depicts a pairing of the nude female form and the remote, primordial landscape of the Sierra Nevada. Like other Pictorialists, Brigman retouched her negatives to enhance their atmospheric tone and to give them a more handcrafted appearance. Her interest in Pagan mythology permeates works like this, representing the elemental spirit of the juniper pine.

Yosemite Valley

William Edward Dassonville. Yosemite Valley, 1905. Platinum print. Collection of Cam and Wanda Garner.

William E. Dassonville, a portrait photographer working in San Francisco, is best known for his landscapes, especially in Yosemite, capturing ethereal visions of Eden on earth. A shortage of material needed to make platinum paper arose during World War I, prompting Dassonville to produce and commercialize his own special “Charcoal Black” printing papers. With rich tonal ranges, its velvety texture enhanced the dreamy atmosphere favored by many photographers in the early twentieth century, including a young Ansel Adams.

Moonrise over Hernandez

Ansel Adams. Moonrise over Hernandez, 1941. Gelatin silver print. Collection of Cam and Wanda Garner. © The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust.

Ansel Adams is revered for his technically precise and tonally rich landscapes. On a childhood trip to Yosemite, Adams received his first camera, a Kodak Brownie. In awe of the splendor of the landscape, the dazzling light, and dramatic shadows, Adams returned to Yosemite again and again to capture its majesty. In trips throughout the United States, he hiked through remote wilderness, scaled mountains, and endured the elements to obtain the best views. A passionate environmental conservationist, he served as director of the Sierra Club and received accolades including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1932 Adams co-founded the f/64 group, named after the small aperture utilized to achieve crisp, sharply focused images with a high depth of field. Adams sought perfection in his work, and was emphatic about previsualizing the finished image before opening the shutter, resulting in a technical strategy he called the “zone system,” which helped predict and control a photograph’s tonal range.

Sadie Pfeiffer, Spinner in Cotton Mill, South Carolina

Lewis Wickes Hine. Sadie Pfeiffer, Spinner in Cotton Mill, South Carolina, 1910. Gelatin silver print. Collection of Cam and Wanda Garner.

Lewis Hine’s background as a sociologist gave him a compassionate perspective on his subjects. His published pictures, called “human documents” helped communicate the abhorrent conditions of the underprivileged in the United States. Sneaking his camera into factories, he surreptitiously gathered evidence of the dangerous and exploitative working conditions for child workers like Sadie Pfieffer. This influenced the eventual introduction of child labor laws, in a testament to photography’s ability to raise awareness and enact change.

Petit's Mobil Station, Cherry Hill, NJ

George Tice. Petit's Mobil Station, Cherry Hill, NJ, 1974. Gelatin silver print. Collection of Cam and Wanda Garner. © George Tice.

Appearing to be illuminated as if by spotlights on a stage, a lone car waits in stillness under the looming water tower, muted in the waning light of dusk. Although inspired by the straight documentary work like that of Walker Evans, Tice needed to cover his camera lens each time a car interrupted this scene. Because of this, the two and half minute exposure took about an hour to complete.

Arkansas

Sid Grossman. Arkansas, 1939-1940. Gelatin silver print. Collection of Cam and Wanda Garner. © Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York.

Sid Grossman was co-founder of the Photo League, a group whose goal was to “put the camera back into the hands of honest photographers” and advocate social change. During his travels through areas affected by the Dust Bowl, Grossman created a body of work to describe the local conditions of life. As anti-communist sentiments grew in the later 1940s, Grossman’s sympathetic images of the working class and labor unions from this series would lead to his being blacklisted by the government.

Minuet

Frank Eugene. Minuet, 1900. Photogravure. Collection of Cam and Wanda Garner.

Frank Eugene used conventional artists’ tools such as etching needles, brushes, and paint to rework his negatives. The resulting prints give an illusion of a picture rendered by hand rather than by chemical process, merging the “fine art” of painting with the still-contentious artistic capacities of photography at the turn of the century. Early examples of photo manipulation serve as reminders that a photograph is not merely a reiteration of the real world, but subject to modification and creativity.

World #14

Ruud van Empel. World #14, 2006. Dye destruction print, face-mounted to Plexiglas. Collection of Cam and Wanda Garner. © Ruud van Empel; courtesy of the artist.

68 DT, Double Frame, 1968

Ray Metzker. 68 DT, Double Frame, 1968, 1968. Gelatin silver print. Collection of Cam and Wanda Garner. © Estate of Ray K. Metzker, Courtesy Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York.

Ray Metzker’s technical explorations include double exposures, partially advanced film, dynamic crops, and the combination of negatives, resulting in physically impossible scenes. 68 DT, Double Frame, 1968, is printed from three frames in succession with a double exposure patterning a human form with obscure structures and shadows. This was made with a “half-frame” camera, which uses half the film per exposure as typical, and is inconspicuous in size.

Funding for this exhibition is made possible by Bank of America, Viasat, the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture, and the members of The San Diego Museum of Art.

Featured at top right: Frank Eugene. Minuet, 1900. Photogravure. Collection of Cam and Wanda Garner.

Other Exhibitions On View

Visible Vaults

On View

Arts of South and Southeast Asia

On View

Arts of Iran

On View

German Expressionism

Now through April 28, 2024

Copyright © 2024 The San Diego Museum of Art | Website by Raindrop