December 12, 2014, 9:00 a.m.-6:30 p.m. — Reconsidering the Object: Approaches to Researching Interwar Photography in the Digital Age
Photography’s digital revolution represents the largest technological break in the history of the medium since its invention, spurring scholars and curators to define photography anew. The last three decades have, additionally, seen a variety of fresh approaches to photography’s history, spurred by the digitization of collections and archives; increased scholarship in the field of photographic paper conservation; and contemporary photographers’ increasing experimentation with traditional chemical processes. This interdisciplinary symposium calls together photography curators, conservators, artists, and historians interested in modern photography in Europe and America to discuss how the digital revolution in photography is changing approaches to photography’s history.
In 2001, MoMA acquired 341 photographs from Thomas Walther’s collection of modern pictures, featuring iconic works by such seminal figures as Berenice Abbott, Karl Blossfeldt, Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Claude Cahun, Alvin Langdon Coburn, Florence Henri, André Kertész, Germaine Krull, El Lissitzky, László Moholy-Nagy, Aleksandr Rodchenko, Paul Strand, Maurice Tabard, Umbo, and Edward Weston, along with lesser-known treasures by more than 100 others. This December, The Museum of Modern Art is pleased to present the results of a collaborative project between its departments of Photography and Conservation dedicated to this remarkable collection. To celebrate the associated exhibition, publication, and digital humanities platform, MoMA invites you to join a conversation about approaches to the study of collections, archives, gelatin silver photography, and of the history of interwar modern photography.
Panelists will lead conversations considering:
- How can digital humanities platforms change the way we approach historical research?
- Does the digital realm bring us closer to the material conditions of photographs?
- How has our relationship to the physical properties and use of gelatin silver paper changed in the digital era?
- What forces have shaped our current understanding of modern photography, and what are the questions for future scholars?
The symposium accompanies the launch of the publication Object: Photo. Modern Photographs: The Thomas Walther Collection 1909–1949 and the digital humanities research platform, which launches on December 9th. In conjunction with the project, MoMA will present the exhibition Modern Photographs from the Thomas Walther Collection, 1909–1949, on view from December 13, 2014, to April 26, 2015.
Reconsidering the Object is part of The Thomas Walther Collection project and is made possible through the generosity of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
In conjunction with the exhibition Modern Photographs from the Thomas Walther Collection, 1909–1949
