July 9, 2013–March 30, 2014

An Enduring Vision

Photographs from the Lane Collection

A lively mix of early and late from the world-class photography collection of William and Saundra Lane

This exhibition celebrates the Lane Collection, renowned for its deep holdings of the work of major American modernist photographers, including Charles Sheeler, Edward Weston, and Ansel Adams—and given to the MFA by Saundra Lane in 2012. In addition to the early 20th-century American works assembled by William H. and Saundra B. Lane in the 1960s and ’70s, the collection includes photographs that Saundra Lane acquired after her husband’s death in 1995. This wide-ranging group includes works by early European master William Henry Fox Talbot, the 19th-century inventor of positive-negative photography, all the way up to contemporary artists, among them Robert Adams, Francesca Woodman, Kenro Izu, Irving Penn, and others working today. This exhibition—a lively mix of early and late—highlights both sides of the collection, as it juxtaposes classic modernism with 19th-century European images, turn-of-the-century soft-focus Pictorialism, and strong contemporary work, exemplifying the ways that a highly personal vision like the Lanes’ is transformed over time.

Edward Weston, Charis, 1942. Gelatin silver print. The Lane Collection.

  • Herb Ritts Gallery (Gallery 169)