EASTMAN HOUSE AND ICP JOIN FORCES.

Photography giants the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film in Rochester, NY, and New York City's International Center of Photography (ICP) have announced an alliance. Through this union their collections and innovative programs will become more available to the public, as well as teachers, students and scholars the world over. Since the collection of the George Eastman House focuses on nineteenth- and twentieth-century photography and ICP's on photoreportage and twentieth-century work, their combined collections will create an unparalleled photographic and archival resource with endless exhibition possibilities. "Through two years of study and discussion it became clear to us that collaboration with ICP offers the opportunity for joint development of collection standards and educational outreach that will enable us to inform and inspire as never before," Dr. Anthony Bannon, director of the Eastman House, said in Cologne, Germany, where the agreement was announced on September 20, during Photokina, the world's largest photographic trade show. [1]

The Eastman House, founded in 1949, has a collection consisting of 400,000 photographs by more than 8000 photographers dating back to the beginning of the medium. This unparalleled collection also contains 15,000 cameras, 25,000 motion picture titles and 5 million publicity stills, along with what is believed to be the world's most comprehensive library of photographic journals, manuscripts and books. In the 1960s, while renowned museums focused on non-photographic art, the Eastman House set itself apart with its vast archives and exhibitions of photography, asserting photographic arts as a fundamental art form of the twentieth century. As the fine art market gained momentum, galleries sprang up across the country, as did new, massively funded museums--creating soaring competition for the Eastman House. A victim of its own success, in the early '70s the Eastman House began to slip from singular prominence as New York City, with its numerous photographic galleries and institutions, became the new photography mecca. Along with an increasing number of competitors, funding for the Eastman House has also dropped significantly: 10 years ago Eastman Kodak Company provided 60% of the museum's operating budget--currently Kodak provides only 10% of this budget and $100,000 worth of in-kind services. In 1989, construction of a 73,000-square-foot addition began and the spotlight was taken off the archives and placed onto George Eastman's mansion itself. With this shift in focus the Eastman House has been openly criticized by photographers who question how the Eastman House can do justice to its historic archive while it is pre-occupied with community arts events and film programming at the Dryden Theatre. [2] The Eastman House alliance with ICP reaffirms their mission statement, returning the focus, and the funding, to the archives. The merger not only opens a doorway for new and increased fundraising opportunities but also builds a bridge between the photographic arts in Rochester and New York City.

ICP, founded in 1974 by photojournalist Cornell Capa, began as an extension of the International Fund for Concerned Photography, a small non-profit organization dedicated to socially engaged photographic reporting. This organization acted as a "floating museum" through which exhibits were shown at various institutions in New York City and abroad. A permanent location was secured in New York City at 1130 Fifth Avenue in 1975; the ICP then expanded to an additional gallery at 1143 Avenue of the Americas in 1989. The ICP provides exhibits throughout the year and public access to collections containing more than 50,000 prints by more than 1000 photographers. The ICP also runs the largest museum photography school in the world. To increase its visibility and effectiveness ICP is relocating and combining its school and gallery space to a newly renovated facility in the summer of 2001, to create a unified cultural "campus" on 43rd Street in Midtown Manhattan.

One hundred and twenty thousand dollars has already been raised from the National Endowment for the Arts and other sources for the implementation of joint educational programs. The museums will focus on five initiatives: interchanging the permanent collections from both museums, for the first time bringing parts of the Eastman House collection to New York City and ICP's holdings to Rochester; the creation of a triennial exhibition of contemporary photography from around the world, to begin in 2003; a joint Web site (scheduled to be launched in spring 2001) displaying key images and interpretative materials from each museum's collections; a joint-cataloging system that will simplify and increase the public's ability to search through collections and specific images by thematic and subject arrangement; and the joint development of five international touring exhibits as yet to be scheduled.

The collection collaboration began this fall with the first of an eight-part exhibition entitled "New Histories of Photography." The series, which will run over three years, opened at ICP November 3 with an exhibition titled "Daguerreotypomanial" and features rare artifacts illuminating photography's impact on culture. The other exhibits will be "Delmaet and Durandelle: The Construction of the Paris Opera"; "Photography and the Book: Selections from the Richard and Ronay Menschel Library"; "The First Snapshots"; "Before Cinema: The Projected Image and the Moving Image"; "Movie Stills from Hollywood's Early Days"; "Images of African-American Life"; and "Commercial Photography of the 1920s-1950s." A second series of exhibitions that will be displayed in both museums' collections will begin in 2003. Other shared exhibits include ICP's exhibition "Weegee's World: Life, Death and the Human Drama," currently on display through January 7 at the Eastman House. Future exhibits will include "James Nachtwey: Testimony i n 2003," another ICP exhibit to be displayed at the Eastman House, as well as two Eastman House exhibitions--"The Photographs of Alfred Stieglitz: Georgia O'Keeffe's Enduring Legacy" and "Inside Out: 50 Years of Collections"--to be shown at ICP.

"Together ICP and the Eastman House create one of the great resources for the study and understanding of photography," ICP director Willis Hartshorn stated. "The beneficiaries will be those we serve at every level, from masters of the art to teachers, students and the millions of people who see photography as a rewarding pastime," Bannon said. "This truly is a case where one plus one equals four."

NOTES

(1.) All quotes taken from Eastman House and International Center of Photography Press Release, September 20, 2000.

(2.) See Steve Fenessy, "Finessing its Focus," in Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, NY), October 6, 2000.