What Photographs Look Like
Dora Maar, Photogram of woman in profile, ca. 1935. Princeton University Art Museum. Museum purchase, gift of Robert J. Fisher, Class of 1975, and Mrs. Fisher. © 2013 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Princeton University Art Museum
Princeton, NJ 08544
USA
Photographs today are often thought of as images, not objects—representations that circulate widely and effortlessly, appearing on our devices without clear origins or destinations. For much of the history of photography, however, photographs were physical objects meant to be held, treasured, traded, or displayed in albums.
The phrase “What Photographs Look Like” is borrowed from Peter Bunnell, who was hired by Princeton in 1972 as the first endowed professor of the history of photography in the United States, and who later served twice as director of the Museum. Bunnell used the phrase to upend his students’ expectations of photographs as strictly two-dimensional prints and to invite delight in the expansive nature of the medium, from photographic drawings to malleable photo-sculptures.
Photography continues to adapt and evolve today. The collections-based exhibition “What Photographs Look Like” underscores the medium’s enduring ability to surprise.
Curated by
Peter C. Bunnell Curator of Photography
,Princeton University Art Museum
