Many pioneers in this field are represented in the collection, such as Robert Jefferson Bingham, Caldesi & Montecchi, Auguste and Louis Bisson, Leopoldo and Giuseppe Alinari, Juan Laurent, and Adolphe Braun. The department also holds examples by artists primarily celebrated as fine art photographers, including Paul Nadar, Alexander Liberman, Tina Modotti, and Brassaï.

Today the department fosters many mutually beneficial relationships with gifted photographers and art historians who initiate and coordinate photographic campaigns. The following is a selection of individuals whose particular interests have strengthened the collection considerably. Gifts are noted with an asterisk.

Wayne Andrews

American and European modern architecture; of particular interest are works by Rudolph Schindler and Le Corbusier (4,200 photographs). More

Archivision Digital Research Library (Scott Gilchrist)

Images of architecture, archaeological sites, gardens, parks and works of art (4,700 slides; 58,000 digital images)

James Austin

British and European architecture (8,700 photographs). More

Francis Bedford

Architectural views and landscapes of British scenery, 1850s -1880s (4,397 photographs and 2 index volumes). More

Osvaldo Böhm

Venetian art and architecture (7,300 photographs). More

William Craft Brumfield*

Primarily Russian architecture, as well as sites in other former Soviet republics, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Lithuania, Poland, and Ireland (approximately 40,000 negatives, 126,158 digital files, and 12,415 photographs to date). See Travels Across Russia features: Avant-Garde, Murom, Torzhok, and Ekaterinburg.  More

Sonja Bullaty and Angelo Lomeo

European painting from private collections and dealers, including Knoedler and Acquavella Galleries. Their work is also included in the Kress Collection of Historic Images (3,300 photographs)

Harald Busch

German and Central European art and architecture (6,000 photographs). More

David Finn

Ancient through contemporary sculpture from Finn’s publications and projects (100,000 negatives and transparencies with corresponding black-and-white photographs). More

Führerprojekt Photographers (act. 1943-1945)

These color slides are part of the historic 'Führerprojekt', or Farbdiaarchiv zur Wand-und Deckenmalerei (Color Slide Archive of Wall and Ceiling Painting), an official Nazi archive of endangered immovable art in the Third Reich that was produced by order of Adolf Hitler at the height of World War II beginning in 1943. Also included are a selection of color slides from the separate Endangered German and Austrian Stained Glass Survey. More

Adolphe Giraudon*

Ancient and European sculpture and architecture (1,000 photographs). More

Max Hutzel

Italian provincial art and architecture (15,600 photographs). More

Paul Katz*

Portraits of artists and their studios in the Manhattan art world from the 1960s through 1970s (1,880 photographs, negatives and slides)

Thomas Keith

Scottish photographer active from 1852 to 1856 (six waxed-paper negatives). More

Clarence Kennedy

Portfolios of Greek and 15th-century Florentine sculpture (680 photographs and digital files). More

Ralph Lieberman

Italian, French, and American art and architecture (5,200 photographs, and 700 digital files to date). More

William MacDonald

Ancient architecture (500 photographs). More

Lida Moser*

Photographs of artists and architecture in New York, with a particular focus on the painter John Koch (744 photographs and negatives, some by purchase). More

Pietro Poppi (Fotografia dell'Emilia)

Italian art and architecture, predominately from the Emilia-Romagna region and the city of Bologna (c. 200 photographs). More

Georg Piltz

Architecture in East Germany following the Second World War to the 1970s (8,804 negatives). More

Nathan Rabin*

Negatives created for various collectors, art dealers, galleries and publications. Modern and contemporary art, the archive also contains images of non-Western objects and some works created prior to 1900 (27,000 negatives and 1,300 photographs to date)

Foto Reali

Florentine firm that surveyed private collections in the early twentieth century. Some photographs show works in situ. Contini-Bonacossi, Cini, Volterra, and Acton are among the private collections represented. (4,000 photographs, negatives and digital files). For more information, see Digital Projects. More

Franco Rigamonti

Roman baroque art and architecture (8,200 photographs and negatives). More

Albert Rudomine

Franco-Russian photographer who worked for the French National Museums (40 photographs). More

Judith Hancock Sandoval

Mexican colonial and Nicaraguan architecture (16,500 photographs). More

Shunk-Kender (Harry Shunk and János Kender)*

Documenting the work of artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude (2,460 photographs).

Roberto Sigismondi (Foto Arte Italiana)

Italian art and architecture especially lesser-known monuments (15,400 photographs and 26,000 digital files to date). More

William A. Smith*

Portraits of artists in their studios and at home by American artist William A. Smith. Subjects include artists from around the world who were active in the mid-20th century (147 photographs and 100 digital files)

Benjamin Brecknell Turner

Portrait, architectural and landscape photographer, 1850s-1880s. (421 photographs and negatives).  More