There is a reality so subtle that it becomes more real than reality. That is what I am trying to get down in photography.

(Alfred Stieglitz, 1923)

Since 2000, the Montclair Art Museum has expanded its photography collection through strategic acquisitions and generous donations of historic, modern, and contemporary works. The exhibition’s title pays homage to the platinum printing technique of the nineteenth century, renowned for its rich, subtle hues ranging from charcoal gray to sepia, as seen in Karl Struss’s Lower Manhattan (ca. 1911–1912).

Highlights of the exhibition include photo postcards by Bill Dane, created between 1973 and 1979 and affectionately sent to his friend Diana Edkins, a longtime photography curator and scholar who donated them to MAM last year. Together, these works trace the history of photography, from the velvety tones and soft focus of Pictorialism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to the conceptual and varied approaches of contemporary artists.

The earliest work on view, Steerage (1907), Alfred Stieglitz’s iconic photograph is a landmark in modern art photography. Twentieth-century portraits by Arnold Newman and Philippe Halsman of artists Max Ernst and Andy Warhol, respectively, are presented alongside contemporary works that explore personal and communal identity by Alex Prager, Rachel Perry, Cara Romero (Chemehuevi), and Nicholas Galanin (Tlingit/Unangax̂).

In alignment with the Museum’s mission, we continue to expand the collection with photographs by both established and emerging American and Indigenous artists, with a focus on amplifying voices from underrepresented communities.