Reframing Photography: Multiple Histories

Examining the history of photography and the medium’s uses beyond fine art

Winner of Second Place in Books from the New England Museum Association 2025 Publication Awards.

Winner of Gold Medal in Photography from the 2024 Foreword INDIES Book Awards.

Since photography’s beginnings in the 19th century, the medium has constantly evolved―in its purpose, its audiences, its collectors and its technology. Reframing Photography: Multiple Histories surveys photography’s past, present and future transformations through thematic groupings pulled from the preeminent collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The diverse selection of objects explores images made not just for a fine art context but also for documentation, the printed page, science, architecture, surveys, publicity and more. Photographers revealing these multiple narratives include Southworth and Hawes, Julia Margaret Cameron, Lewis Hine, James Van Der Zee, Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Margaret Bourke-White, Robert Capa, Catherine Opie, Gohar Dashti, Martine Gutierriez and Alejandro Cartagena. This publication celebrates the centennial anniversary of Alfred Steiglitz’s founding gift to the museum’s photography collection.