American Photography

The Rijksmuseum has delved into its 200,000-strong collection of photographic works for this survey of American photography (7 February–9 June). From early daguerreotypes to post-war photographs by Robert Frank and Dorothea Lange to contemporary work by artists such as Sally Mann and Nan Goldin and works by unknown photographers, more than 200 photographs trace the development, significance and omnipresence of the medium in the United States. The museum is also exploring photography’s influence on pop culture through a selection of advertisements, postcards, record covers and other objects. There is also a display of Carrie Mae Weems’s Painting the Town (2021) in the Rijksmuseum’s photography gallery – a series of works that look like abstract paintings but are in fact photographs taken in the artist’s home city of Portland.

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Find out more from the Rijksmuseum’s website

Painting the Town #3 from the Painting the Town series (2021), Carrie Mae Weems. Courtesy the artist/Galerie Barbara Thumm; © Carrie Mae Weems

Family Standing beside their Car (c. 1957–60), photographer unknown. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

America Seen Through Stars and Stripes, New York City (1976), Ming Smith. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond