Children behind barbed wire

How Photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White Showed Apartheid to Americans

Photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White dedicated her life to photography, including a trip to South Africa during the "dawn of the anti-apartheid era."
Edgar Allen Poe

Edgar Allan Poe and the Power of a Portrait

Edgar Allan Poe knew that readers would add their visual image of the author to his work to create a personality that informed their reading.
Seydou Keïta

The Rediscovery of Photographer Seydou Keïta

Seydou Keïta captured Bamako life at the turn of independence in Mali. Keïta’s story is mythic and rich, as is that of his art and photography.
African American Civil War soldiers

Early Photographs of African American Soldiers at The National Museum of African American History and Culture

The Prickitt album in the NMAAC is a rare coincidence of names and photographs of Colored Troops fighting for the Union in the Civil War. 
Lidice memorial

The Role of Children in War, from Lidice to Aleppo

Images of children in wartime, like those from Aleppo, can shock the world. But what happens after that isn't so clear.
Migrant Mother, Dorthea Lange

Dorothea Lange and the Making of Migrant Mother

Follow the rich history of Dorothea Lange, as she captured the iconic and lasting portrait of Florence Thompson, more famously known as Migrant Mother.
Tintype portrait

Fast, Cheap, and Totally Popular: Tintypes

Tintypes were an early, accessible, cheap form of photography, just the thing for on-the-go Americans.
Photograph by Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman: Before the Selfie

Before cell phones and selfies, American artist Cindy Sherman influenced the world with her monumental and ongoing series of self-portraiture.
David Wojnarowicz Smoking, 1981 Peter Hujar © 1987 The Peter Hujar Archive LLC; Courtesy Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York and Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco

The Lonely City: What Past Artists Tell Us About the Present

What can we learn from Lonely City artists like David Wojnarowicz in our age of hyper-connectivity?
Pine forrest [sic], Summit Station, Catawissa R.R. Photo by John Moran

When Photography Wasn’t Art

Today, photography is commonly accepted as a fine art. But through much of the 19th century, it was an art world outcast.