Master Photographs from the “Photography in the Fine Arts” Exhibitions, 1959–1967 is a large-format photography anthology published by the International Center of Photography that brings together the most memorable images selected for the influential Photography in the Fine Arts (PFA) exhibitions held between 1959 and 1967 in the United States.
The book functions both as a catalog of those exhibitions and as a chronicle of mid-20th-century photographic achievement. It includes over 180 reproductions of photographs by more than 130 celebrated photographers and photojournalists — from pioneers like Ansel Adams, Robert Capa, Dorothea Lange, Irving Penn, and Henri Cartier-Bresson to influential modern artists such as Burk Uzzle and Marie Cosindas. These images span styles from expressive fine art and formal portraiture to documentary and journalistic photography — reflecting the broad aesthetics and evolving debates about photography’s place as a fine art during that era.
In addition to the photographs, the volume includes several essays and contextual texts by curators and historians — such as Norman Cousins, Nathan Lyons, Evan H. Turner, Miles Barth, and Naomi N. Rosenblum — exploring the history, impact, and controversies of the PFA exhibitions and the question “What makes a great photograph?” These essays offer insights into the curatorial choices, the exhibitions’ reception, and how photography gained wider acceptance in museums and fine art circles in the 1960s.
Overall, the book serves both as a visual celebration of classic photographs that helped define modern photographic art and a historical document of a pivotal period when photography was increasingly recognized, exhibited, and theorized as a legitimate art form.
