Modern Photography

Gelatin silver print. Attributed to Shotoku. Nyoirin Kwannon. c. 556 (printed c. 1933). Sculpture in black lacquered wood. Photographer unknown. 10 3/4 x 8 3/4" (27.2 x 22.2 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Richard Benson.

The era of modern photography began with the great innovation of the dry plate. Now that camera-ready materials could be purchased off the shelf, the medium underwent far more than a technical change: the physical manipulations of photography shifted to the background and concerns with picture content came to the front. According to the photographer Tod Papageorge, this invention opened the door for photography to become more like poetry than carpentry.

 Gelatin silver print. Frank Jacobs. Portrait of Mother and Son on Mount Rainier. c. 1930. 13 15/16 x 10 15/16" (35.4 x 27.8 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Richard Benson.

 

Gelatin silver print. Photographer unknown. Reece Franklin (on the right) and friends in Washington State. c. 1938. 5 1/4 x 3 1/2" (13.3 x 8.9 cm).

Gelatin silver print. Nicholas Nixon. View of the New John Hancock Building. 1975. 7 5/8 x 9 5/8" (19.4 x 24.4 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Richard Benson © Nicholas Nixon. This print was made by contact on Kodak Azo paper, a silver chloride based, contact-speed, gelatin developing-out paper that remained available long after other such papers disappeared from the market.