26-05-2025
New York museum to acquire 6,500 photographs capturing key moments of modernity
New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art is set to acquire a unique trove of 6,500 photographs, including images of iconic moments from modern Africa, China, and Japan.
The collection is a gift from former Goldman Sachs general partner and art collector Artur Walther.
In 1994, he began amassing modernist German photographs, later expanding to Africa and Asia, with many images capturing key moments of social and economic upheaval during that period, Hyperallergic wrote.
Other items in the collection are examples of 'vernacular photography,' capturing medical, commercial, and private family life: 'Many are just random, but others are sociologically relevant as they say something about individualities and the way people investigate or represent themselves,' Walther said.
