Photography

The University of New Mexico Art Museum’s permanent photography collection includes some 10,000 photographs (by over 1,000 different photographers) and early cased objects, spans the entire history of the medium and constitutes, along with the print collection, the heart of the museum’s holdings. Begun in 1962 by Van Deren Coke, the museum’s first director, this significant collection is without question, the foundation on which the museum’s reputation was built and rests to this day. It is the largest fine art photography collection in the state of New Mexico and one of the major collegiate collections in the country. Some of the renowned artists in the collection include: William Henry Fox Talbot, Julia Margaret Cameron, Nadar, Hill and Adamson, Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand, Edward Steichen, Ansel Adams, Walker Evans, Diane Arbus, Henri Cartier-Bresson, August Sander, Laura Gilpin, Helen Levitt, William Eggleston, Cindy Sherman, John Coplan and Alex Soth to name only a small selection.