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      Photography

      PEM’s photography collection encourages different ways of seeing the world.

      Photography

      Photographs can be many things: objects of great beauty, records of a journey, scientific experiments or remembrances of a significant event or loved one.

      Photography in all its forms embodies a desire to communicate – to transmit ideas and messages across time and space. PEM’s photography collection reflects the global activities and spirit of the museum’s earliest supporters as voyagers who sought to explore and share the world with their communities.

      The collection dates to 1855 and tells the story of photography across three centuries, helping us understand why and how pictures are made and the important role the medium has played in shaping visual cultures across the world. The earliest photograph in the collection is a daguerreotype of the Pont Neuf in Paris attributed to Vincent Chevalier. It is one of the few surviving examples of photography made shortly after the medium was introduced to the public in 1839. Since then, photography has been collected by each of the institutions that came together to form PEM. The collection has grown to encompass works representing dozens of different photographic techniques, including daguerreotypes, ambrotypes and tintypes and albumen, gelatin silver and inkjet prints.

      PEM’s collection is internationally recognized for its holdings of 19th-century photography. Merchants and supercargoes traversed the world and brought back several thousand photographs made in East, South and Southeast Asia and Oceania to Salem, including striking daguerreotypes of Hawai‘i and the Philippines. This collection includes prints by Felice Beato, John Thomson, Kusakabe Kimbei, Milton Miller and the Bourne & Shepherd studio.

      In 2008, with the formation of the photography department and the appointment of its first dedicated curator, PEM began to focus on building its holdings of 20th-century and contemporary photography. Recent acquisitions include bodies of work by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Harold Eugene Edgerton, Walker Evans, Tony Gleaton, Danny Lyon, Sally Mann and Olivia Parker.

      In 2019, the museum accepted a transformational gift of more than 1,600 works of photography from the Joy of Giving Something, Inc., a nonprofit foundation formed by the financier and collector Howard Stein. This gift features the work of 123 artists, primarily of East Asian descent or working in East Asia, from the 1930s to the present day. By exploring issues of identity, community and the environment, these works resonate with PEM’s historic photography collection and open up entirely new opportunities for dialogue between the past and present.

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      Highlights from this collection

      Pont Neuf, Paris, about 1839
      Pont Neuf, Paris, about 1839

      Attributed to Vincent Chevalier (1771–1841, France)

      A Royal Family, late 19th century
      A Royal Family, late 19th century

      Lala Deen Dayal (1844–1905, India)

      Khamba Jong, Tibet, from the album Tibet and Lhasa
      Khamba Jong, Tibet, from the album Tibet and Lhasa

      John Claude White (1853–1918, United Kingdom)

      Portrait of William Lloyd Garrison, George Thompson, and Wendell Phillips, about 1850
      Portrait of William Lloyd Garrison, George Thompson, and Wendell Phillips, about 1850

      Albert Sands Southworth (1811–1894, United States) and Josiah Johnson Hawes (1808–1901, United States)

      Whalers Rousseau and Desdemona,1889
      Whalers Rousseau and Desdemona,1889

      Edwin Hale Lincoln (1848–1938, United States)

      Japanese Woman at Her Toilette, about 1880
      Japanese Woman at Her Toilette, about 1880

      Kusakabe Kimbei (1841–1934, Japan)

      Treasury Street, Canton, 1860
      Treasury Street, Canton, 1860

      Felice Beato (1832–1909, United Kingdom, born in Italy)

      Scrimshaw Carver, about 1890
      Scrimshaw Carver, about 1890

      Artist in the United States

      View of the Beach, The Mangrove Coast, Florida, 1941

      ON VIEW

      View of the Beach, The Mangrove Coast, Florida, 1941

      Walker Evans (1903–1975, United States)

      On view in On This Ground: Being and Belonging in America.

      Canyonlands, Utah, 1993

      ON VIEW

      Canyonlands, Utah, 1993

      Michael A. Smith (1942–2018, United States)

      On view in On This Ground: Being and Belonging in America.

      Wounded Soldiers Being Tended in the Field after the Battle of Chancellorsville near Fredericksburg, VA, 1863

      ON VIEW

      Wounded Soldiers Being Tended in the Field after the Battle of Chancellorsville near Fredericksburg, VA, 1863

      Studio of Mathew B. Brady

      On view in On This Ground: Being and Belonging in America.

      Pont Neuf, Paris, about 1839
      Pont Neuf, Paris, about 1839

      Attributed to Vincent Chevalier (1771–1841, France), Pont Neuf, Paris, about 1839. Daguerreotype, half plate. Gift of John Burley, 1858. 1231.

      A Royal Family, late 19th century
      A Royal Family, late 19th century

      Lala Deen Dayal (1844–1905, India), A Royal Family, late 19th century. Gelatin silver print. Museum purchase, made possible by an anonymous donor, 2000. PH81.110.

      Khamba Jong, Tibet, from the album Tibet and Lhasa
      Khamba Jong, Tibet, from the album Tibet and Lhasa

      John Claude White (1853–1918, United Kingdom), Khamba Jong, Tibet, from the album Tibet and Lhasa, 1907–08. Carbon print. Anonymous donor, 2000. PH80.6.

      Portrait of a Woman (Possibly Empress Myeongseong), 1887–1892
      Portrait of a Woman (Possibly Empress Myeongseong), 1887–1892

      Artist in Korea, Portrait of a Woman (Possibly Empress Myeongseong), 1887–1892. Albumen print. Museum purchase, made possible by John O. and Olivia Hood Parker, 2001. PH78.33.

      Portrait of William Lloyd Garrison, George Thompson, and Wendell Phillips, about 1850
      Portrait of William Lloyd Garrison, George Thompson, and Wendell Phillips, about 1850

      Albert Sands Southworth (1811–1894, United States) and Josiah Johnson Hawes (1808–1901, United States), Portrait of William Lloyd Garrison, George Thompson, and Wendell Phillips, about 1850. Daguerreotype, whole plate. Museum purchase, 1921. 112333.DUP.

      Whalers Rousseau and Desdemona,1889
      Whalers Rousseau and Desdemona,1889

      Edwin Hale Lincoln (1848–1938, United States), Whalers Rousseau and Desdemona, 1889. Platinum print. Museum purchase, 1972. PH285.351.

      Cinquefoil, From the Ephemera portfolio, 1975, printed 1977
      Cinquefoil, From the Ephemera portfolio, 1975, printed 1977

      Olivia Parker (b. 1941, United States), Cinquefoil, From the Ephemera portfolio, 1975, printed 1977. Gelatin silver print. Gift of the artist. 2014.28.11.2.

      The Island Pagoda, From the album Foochow and the River Min, 1873
      The Island Pagoda, From the album Foochow and the River Min, 1873

      John Thomson (1837–1921, Scotland), The Island Pagoda, From the album Foochow and the River Min, 1873. Carbon print. Gift of the Estate of Mrs. Anthony Rives, 1973. PH26.19.

      Japanese Woman at Her Toilette, about 1880
      Japanese Woman at Her Toilette, about 1880

      Kusakabe Kimbei (1841–1934, Japan), Japanese Woman at Her Toilette, about 1880. Albumen print with hand coloring. Edward Sylvester Morse Collection. FIC2016.10.1.

      Treasury Street, Canton, 1860
      Treasury Street, Canton, 1860

      Felice Beato (1832–1909, United Kingdom, born in Italy), Treasury Street, Canton, 1860. Albumen print. Gift of Howard Corning, Albert Farley Heard Collection, before 1956, PH2.83.

      Scrimshaw Carver, about 1890
      Scrimshaw Carver, about 1890

      Artist in the United States, Scrimshaw Carver, about 1890. Cyanotype print. Museum purchase. 2014.43.1.

      View of the Beach, The Mangrove Coast, Florida, 1941
      View of the Beach, The Mangrove Coast, Florida, 1941

      Walker Evans (1903–1975, United States), View of the Beach, The Mangrove Coast, Florida, 1941. Gelatin silver print. Gift of Joan and Clark Worswick, 1999. PH188.

      On view in On This Ground: Being and Belonging in America.

      Canyonlands, Utah, 1993
      Canyonlands, Utah, 1993

      Michael A. Smith (1942–2018, United States), Canyonlands, Utah, 1993. Gelatin silver print. Gift of Garrett Gunderson. 2016.70.19.

      On view in On This Ground: Being and Belonging in America.

      Wounded Soldiers Being Tended in the Field after the Battle of Chancellorsville near Fredericksburg, VA, 1863
      Wounded Soldiers Being Tended in the Field after the Battle of Chancellorsville near Fredericksburg, VA, 1863

      Studio of Mathew B. Brady, Wounded Soldiers Being Tended in the Field after the Battle of Chancellorsville near Fredericksburg, VA, 1863. Albumen print. Gift of Mrs. William C. Endicott, in honor of William C. Endicott, 1911. PH104.17.

      On view in On This Ground: Being and Belonging in America.

      Loans and acquisitions

      Loans and acquisitions

      PEM is committed to providing the broadest possible access to its collection through the loan of objects for educational and scholarly purposes. Learn how to request a loan from the museum’s collection.

      Keep exploring

      Past Exhibition

      As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic

      June 17 to December 31, 2023

      Past Exhibition

      Power and Perspective: Early Photography in China

      September 24, 2022 to April 2, 2023

      Blog

      Photography and Its Many Manifestations in Power and Perspective: Early Photography in China

      6 min read

      Press Release

      PEM Receives Outstanding Collection of Modern Asian Photography