The George Eastman Museum photography and technology collections are among the best and most comprehensive in the world. With holdings that range in date from before the announcement of the medium’s invention in 1839 to the present day, these collection objects represent the dynamic history of photography.

The items chosen for this exhibition demonstrate connections among photography, cinema, technology, and culture. They chart a course through photo history, identifying notable movements and trends while giving context to a breadth of photographic practices, technologies, communities, and traditions.

The response to photographic trends has been varied and complex, and not without critical discourse and debate. As the medium has evolved, access to photographic tools and technologies has increased, expanding our understanding of photography and its wider cultural implications. Grown to encompass a multitude of voices and diverse perspectives, photography continues to bring forth new challenges and provocative assessments of that which came before.

To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the George Eastman Museum, this ongoing exhibition highlights some of the finest of the museum’s holdings. Each quarter during the exhibition’s course, a small selection of objects will be changed, allowing returning visitors additional opportunities to engage with treasures from the museum’s vaults.

Curated by Jamie M. Allen, Louis Chavez, and Daniel Peacock, Department of Photography