Photography in the Fine Arts. Exhibition V. Metropolitan Museum of Art. By Ivan Dmitri, et al.

PFA, 1967. Includes exhibition checklist and transcription of taped conversation among jurors. Photographs by: Marie Cosindas; Pete Turner; Don Worth; David Plowden; Peter E. Beckett; Arnold Newman; Yousuf Karsh (of Ben Shahn); Toni Frisell; William A. Garnett; Richard Avedon (two, of Bertrand Russell and Bob Dylan); Zdenek Vozenilek; Imogen Cunningham (of Morris Graves); Andreas Feininger; Mario Giacomelli; Andre Kertesz; Niki Ekstrom (of Marcel Duchamp); Fred J. Maroon; Daniel Farber; Larry Burrows, et al. Wraps, 36 pages, very good with crimps on pages. Summary:

Photography in the Fine Arts: Exhibition V (published by Photography in the Fine Arts in 1967) is an important museum catalog and checklist documenting the final installment of a historic exhibition series held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Initiated by the prominent photographer Ivan Dmitri, the publication serves as an essential record of a concerted, decade-long institutional project dedicated to securing a wider global audience for photography as a recognized fine art.

Core Content & Curatorial Structure

1. The Juror Panels and Academic Validation

The catalog's unique conceptual framework centers on an elite jury selection process designed to evaluate the medium through the eyes of traditional art institutions. Rather than relying solely on professional photographers, the jury consisted of a panel of eleven museum directors, administrators, and fine-art curators. The text includes a transcribed recording of the taped conversations among the jurors as they debated the aesthetic merits of the submissions, offering a rare look into how mid-20th-century art gatekeepers evaluated photography's ability to express the human soul.

2. Exhibition Checklist and Featured Masterworks

The core of the booklet functions as an authoritative checklist of the works selected for the gallery installation, which subsequently traveled to numerous museums across the United States. The exhibition brought together a diverse range of commercial, journalistic, and fine-art photographers, showcasing original prints by defining voices of the era:

• Celebrity and Artist Portraiture: Iconic frames such as Richard Avedon’s portraits of Bob Dylan and Bertrand Russell, Yousuf Karsh’s study of painter Ben Shahn, and intimate portraits by Arnold Newman.

• Color and Avant-Garde Innovation: Early artistic color and landscape work by pioneers like Marie Cosindas, Pete Turner, Peter Beard, and Don Worth.

• Documentary and Environmental Studies: Striking visual imagery tracking nature and industrial change by David Plowden, Toni Frissell, and aerial master William A. Garnett.

3. A Manifesto for Artistic Equality

The accompanying essays and introductory materials frame the entire Photography in the Fine Arts (PFA) initiative as a historical turning point for museum acquisitions. The text outlines how the PFA collection helped establish permanent photographic departments within traditional institutions that had previously excluded the medium. By standardizing high-end print presentations and fostering scholarly debate, the publication records the ultimate breakdown of the boundary between mechanical reproduction and classic fine-art disciplines.

Exhibition V stands as the definitive summary of the PFA movement before its later recognition by organizations like the International Center of Photography. By combining an elite-level checklist with raw juror commentary, the 1967 catalog preserves the precise historical moment when the American museum establishment officially validated the camera print as an equal partner to painting and sculpture.