Networks or groups of female photographers have played pivotal roles throughout the history of photography. Traditional histories, however, have largely ignored the importance of these groups, even as they have increasingly included the achievements of individual women. This selection of works from the museum’s permanent collection focuses on one such network that emerged around the turn of the twentieth century. Although never part of any one clearly defined organization, these women shared ideas through correspondences and reacted to each other’s works, creating a web of mutual influence that helped pull photography from its nineteenth century roots into the modernist twentieth century. Their achievements are a reflection of their individual perceptions, experiences, and skills and their collective resolve to lead rather than follow and to photograph rather than be photographed.

By 1900, greater acceptance of women’s right to work and the development of more efficient photographic tools led to a dramatic increase in professional female photographers. Eva Watson-Schütze, Gertrude Käsebier, and Anne W. Brigman, for example, were involved with the turn of the century pictorialism movement that emphasized the artistic over the mechanical nature of photography. Their work inspired a later generation of female photographers that included Alma Lavenson, Consuelo Kanaga, and Imogen Cunningham who traded in the softer pictorialist style for a harder-edged modernist approach. This selection of works highlights the relationships between these photographers and demonstrates their role in guiding photography into its modern era.

This exhibition is organized by guest curator Tasia Kastanek.