Masterpiece Photographs of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts: The Curatorial Legacy of Carroll T. Hartwell

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts holds the Upper Midwest’s most significant permanent collection of fine photographs. Covering the entire history of the medium, from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day. This beautiful book opens with an 1845 salt print by the English inventor William Henry Fox Talbot and closes with a 2002 color portrait by Alec Soth from his series Sleeping by the Mississippi. In between, selected images represent the genres of documentary photography, photojournalism, and street photography. Included are Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother and Arthur Rothstein’s Dust Storm, as well as Edward Weston’s Pepper No. 30 and Ansel Adams’s Moonrise, Hernandez.

Commemorating the collecting legacy of Carroll T. (Ted) Hartwell (1933-2007), the founding curator of the museum’s department of photographs, this book reveals Hartwell’s critical eye for singular historical photographs and his belief in the influence and vitality of accomplished contemporary photographers. In an introductory essay, Christian A. Peterson recounts the history of the museum’s photography collection and Hartwell’s indelible imprint on the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.