Europe. The second exhibition on 53rd Street was
the first to include photography explicitly. The
Advisory Committee wanted to show domestic art-
work alongside the new art that was coming in
from Europe, and Barr wanted a chance to display
photography as an independent art.Murals By
American Painters and Photographers(1932) gave
exactly that opportunity and he turned to Lincoln
Kirstein for help.
Kirstein, a friend of architect and MoMA Archi-
tecture Curator Philip Johnson and one of the
founding members of the Harvard Society for Con-
temporary Art, went on to serve on the Junior
Advisory Committee of MoMA. Kirstein turned
to his friend and New York gallery owner Julien
Levy for help, and between them they procured the
photographs that were displayed. Kirstein was also
the director of the 1933 exhibition of Walker Evans
prints (which he later donated) of nineteenth cen-
tury homes—the first one-man photography show
at MoMA. Kirstein was one of three especially
generous donors who gave time, money, and
photographs to the Museum and later to the
Department. Over an extended period of time the
second of the three donors, James Thrall Soby,
gave over 100 Man Ray prints, served as trustee,
curator, administrator, collector, organizer of ex-
hibitions, and author of publications that accom-
panied them. The third, David McAlpin (an
investment banker and amateur photographer),
was related to the Rockefellers who were so instru-
mental in creating the Museum. He was friendly
with painter Georgia O’Keeffe, Alfred Stieglitz’s
wife, and secured gifts of her husband’s prints; he
acquired a handful of Edward Weston and Man
Ray photographs, and, among other things, pro-
vided $1,000 to fund the first (and only) Photogra-
pher’s Fellowship in 1946.
Before there was a Department of Photography,
there existed a department that dealt specifically
with a photomechanical art. Although with hind-
sight it appears obvious that there should be sepa-
rate departments for ‘‘Film’’ and ‘‘Photography’’
there is no intrinsic rationale for separating the art
of these two photographic processes. It was little
more than chance that Iris Barry, a former film
critic, should move (via the MoMA library) from
London’sDaily Mail, to set up the Film Library in
1935 (re-named the ‘‘Department of Film’’ in 1966).
A film library was anything but a foregone conclu-
sion since, although it realized the ‘‘filmotek’’ of the
original plans, it only came about after two years of
committee work had been spent exploring the pos-
sibility. Indeed, ‘‘Photography’’ and ‘‘Film’’ might
easily have been two parts of a larger ‘‘Department
of Machine Art’’ suggested by Philip Johnson’s
1934 Machine Artexhibition, on display during
the committee’s deliberations.
When Iris Barry moved from the library to take
charge of the Film Library she was replaced as
librarian by the photographer and historian Beau-
mont Newhall. This placed him in an ideal position
to advance the cause of photography within the
institution. In 1936, he was invited to curate the
exhibition that would become the 1937 exhibition
Photography 1839–1937. Sam Hunter quotes the
then President of MoMA, A. Conger Goodyear,
describing it as ‘‘one of the most complete and
satisfying exhibitions in the Museum’s history.’’ It
was the first comprehensive photography exhibi-
tion ever attempted in the United States: In it,
Newhall introduced photography as a museum
art, presented the museum as an educational insti-
tution, and paved the way for a Department of
Photography with himself at its helm.The Department of Photography under
Beaumont Newhall, 1940–1946
Funded by a $5,000 grant from David McAlpin,
Beaumont Newhall’s researches for the 1937 exhi-
bition had been extensive, and they culminated in
his publication of the catalogue for the 1937 exhi-
bition as Photography: A Short Critical History
(1938). This was subsequently expanded into the
standard history book of photography. With fre-
quent revisions through the decadesA History of
Photography from 1839 to the Present Dayremains
one of the most important English language books
on photography.
The opening at the new building on 53rd Street
in May 1939, meant that there was more space,
among other things, to display photographs.
With celebration and its own special issue of the
Museum’sBulletin, the Department of Photogra-
phy at the Museum of Modern Art was formally
established in 1940. Although the Brooklyn Mus-
eum had a Department of Photography (the only
one in the country), MoMA boasted the first
curatorial department in any museum to be
devoted exclusively to photography. In the bulle-
tin, Newhall announced his intention for the
Department to
function as a focal center where the aesthetic problems
of photography can be evaluated, where the artist who
has chosen the camera as his medium can find guidance
by example and encouragement and where the [public
can study] the classics and the most recent and signifi-
cant developments in photography.MUSEUM OF MODERN ART OF NEW YORK, THE