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Lecture: How Photography Came of Age

Wayne W. and Frances Knight Parrish Lecture by Dr. Malcolm Daniel, Curator in Charge, Department of Photography, and Curator of Special Projects, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

FREE with Museum admission.

MD picDr. Daniel will trace the invention and early history of photography, drawing on examples from the MFA’s collection and others around the world. Before assuming his new role at the MFA, Houston in December 2013, he served at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York for 23 years, becoming both Senior Curator and Curator in Charge of the Department of Photography.

A specialist in nineteenth-century French and British photography, he has curated many exhibitions spotlighting key figures in the development of the medium, including Édouard Baldus, the subject of his dissertation, and his British contemporary Roger Fenton. Other shows have explored the work of Julia Margaret Cameron, the great portraitist of Victorian England; Edgar Degas, whose moody, lamplit photographs are little known; and early twentieth-century masters Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, and Paul Strand.

Many of his exhibitions for The Metropolitan traveled to other leading museums in the U.S. and Europe. Impressed by Light: British Photographs from Paper Negatives (with Sarah Greenough and Roger Taylor) went to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. and the Musée d’Orsay. All the Mighty World: The Photographs of Roger Fenton (with Sarah Greenough and Gordon Baldwin) was also seen at the National Gallery, The J. Paul Getty Museum, and the Tate Britain. Edgar Degas, Photographer traveled to The Getty and the Bibliothèque nationale de France and was named “Best Photography Show” by the International Association of Art Critics for 1998-1999.

At the MFA, Houston, Dr. Daniel has already been responsible for four exhibitions, including the National Gallery’s Charles Marville: Photographer of Paris, which also traveled to The Metropolitan. He has written a wealth of catalogues and journal articles and has lectured widely, including at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth; the George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film, in Rochester; The Getty; and The Royal Academy of Arts in London. He has been an adjunct professor at Columbia University and the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University.

He holds his BA from Trinity College in Connecticut, with honors in art history and studio art, and was selected for Phi Beta Kappa. His MA and PhD are from Princeton University, also in art history. During his graduate study, he held Samuel Kress, Andrew W. Mellon, and Princeton University Fellowships. He was a Thomas J. Watson Fellow from 1978-1979, allowing him to travel and pursue independent study in Europe and North Africa.

Each year, the Parrish Lecture brings outstanding speakers to the community. The Parrishes, who lived most of their lives in Washington, D.C., donated many of the MFA’s most significant pre-Columbian objects. They are displayed in a gallery named in their honor. Mr. Parrish was a successful publisher of aviation magazines and Mrs. Parrish was Director of the U.S. Passport Office from 1955-1977. This is the first time Dr. Daniel has lectured at the MFA.

Photo by F. Carter Smith.

Event Details


Date
June 28, 2015

Time
3–4 pm

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