In the Beginning

Photographer Unknown, Courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art, William L. Schaeffer Collection, Promised Gift of Jennifer and Philip Maritz, in celebration of the Museum’s 150th anniversary

What was photography like in its early days in the United States? An exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, “The New Art: American Photography, 1839-1910,” which runs through July 20, explores photography in the U.S., from its birth in 1839 to 1910.

©Chauncey L. Moore, Courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art, William L. Schaeffer Collection, Promised Gift of Jennifer and Philip Maritz, in celebration of the Museum’s 150th anniversary

The exhibition includes works by lauded early photographers Johnson Hawes, John Moran, Carleton Watkins, and Alice Austen, as well as works by unknown or little-known photographers made in small towns and cities from the east to the west coast. Various types of photography formats are showcased, including daguerreotypes, cartes de visite, stereographs, and cyanotypes.

Amanda Arnold is a senior editor. 

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