Collecting photographs has been a Haverford tradition since 1870. Today, a Class One circulating photographic research library augments a 5,000-print photography collection representing more than 500 photographers spanning the medium’s history. The College’s Special Collections also contains related materials consisting of manuscripts, letters and first editions by prominent figures in the history of photography, such as Daguerre, Talbot, Alfred Stieglitz, Francis Frith and Maxfield Parrish (Haverford Class of 1892).
Since 1995, Michael Fogel, Haverford Class of 1958, and his son, Rafael Fogel, Class of 1992, have been providing funds for the acquisition of fine art photographs to add to the College’s collection. The result of this sustained giving is a group of 49 works by 38 photographers spanning the history of the medium from its maturation in the 19th century to the present day. When seen together, these purchases constitute a collection within a collection that mirrors a wide range of photographic genres from travel, to portraiture, to conceptual and post-modern work.
The Fogel funds have been used to acquire works that have enriched Haverford’s encyclopedic collection by allowing it to grow in new directions and to augment its considerable core strengths.
For example, the College had long owned a 100-print set of the motion studies of Eadweard Muybridge, who had first established his reputation as a landscape photographer of the American West. But it was not until the 2009 purchase, funded by the Fogels, of an 1872 Muybridge photograph of a Yosemite landscape that the photographer’s earlier work was available for comparison with the later work in the collection.
In addition, the acquisition of Italian neorealist photography by artists such as Mario De Biasi provides an essential cultural context for works in the collection by Robert Frank and Henri Cartier-Bresson. The photograms of Dadaist, Christian Schad, presage Man Ray and Lee Miller by a decade and offer vivid examples of work created from found and readymade materials. The work of modern masters like Paul Strand and Elliott Erwitt demonstrate the humanistic and visual complexity of mid-20th century photography and its complementary straight photographic aesthetic. The work of contemporary photographers William Wegman, Zeke Berman and Judith Taylor raise challenging questions about the ontology of perception in photographs.
The Fogel Collection also contains photographs by a diverse array of Haverford alumni, including Genevieve B. Katherman ’92 and Andrew Borowiec ’78, a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation fellow in photography.
Forty of the compelling images from the Fogel Collection will be on display in this exhibition, representing the best that is photography, as well as the generous support of alumni Michael and Rafael Fogel.
Judith Taylor, October 19-20, 4×5 Polaroid negative contact print,4.5 x 5.5in, Gelatin chloride printing-out paper print (1999-2007)
Paul Strand, Boy-Hidalgo, 1933 [1940], Photogravure, black and white, 16.1 x 12.2in
Roberto Spampinato, Il mangiatore di fuoco [1955], Modern gelatin silver print, black and white; 10.8 x 15.8in
Andrew Borowiec, Haverford College ’78, Courtyard, East Liverpool, Ohio, Gelatin silver print, black and white, 19.7 x 15.7in
Bill Hirst, The Giant’s Causeway, Co., Antrim Ireland, 1991 [1993], Gelatin Silver print, black and white; 19.7 x 23.6in
Harvey Finkle, Urban Playground, Philadelphia [1995], Gelatin silver print, black and white; 15.7 x 19.7in
Roberto Spampinato, Dancing Santa Tecla, Milano [1954], Gelatin silver print, black and white; 11 x 13.4in
Francis Firth, Entrance of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem [circa 1857], Albumen print, black and white; 9 x 6.3in
Elinor Carucci, Eran needs to be waken up, [ 2001], Dye coupler print, color; 9 x 13.8in
Dawoud Bey, Five Children, Syracuse, N.Y., 1985 [1996], Gelatin silver print, black and white; 11 x 13.8in
Miguel Chani, Mujer con camara en la mans, (Stylish woman holding a Brownie camera) [circa 1895, 1992], Gelatin silver print, black and white; 11 x 14in
James Valentine, Roadway, Cane River, Jamaica [1870s-1880s], Carbon print, black and white; 11.4 x 9.4in
Stephen Guion Williams, Nanook [1976 or 1982], Vintage Selenium-toned gelatin silver print, black and white; 13.4 x 13.6in
Sandy Sorlien, Penfield Ohio [1988, 2002], Gelatin silver print, black and white; 17.7 x 23.6in
Photographer unknown, Niagra Falls, factories in disatance [1860s], Albumen print, black and white; 13.4 x 16.5in
Elliot Erwitt, Fontainbleau Hotel, Miam [1970s], Gelatin silver print, black and white; 9.4 x 13.4in
Zeke Berman, Measuring Cup [1979], Platinum print, January 1997
Angie Corcetti, Bryn Mawr ’94, Untitled [cat after surgery] [1994], Gelatin silver print, black and white; 16.1 x 20.1in
William Earle Williams, Boulder Plum Run, 1986 [1997], Gelatin silver print, black and white; 6.8 x 6.8in
Wendel A. White, Marshalltown Colored School, Marshalltown, N.J. [2004], Archival ink print, black and white; 27.5 x 22in
Christine Kathryn Welch, Route 113 near Phoenixville, PA [2001], Dye emulsion or chromogenic print, color; 19.7 x 23.6in
Sarah Van Keuren, Stone Lion [1988], Cyanotype and gum bichromate print, color; 14.6 x 10.2in
Arlene Gottfried, Devon Kelly Praises God with a Dance [1991], Dye emulsion or dye-bleach print, color; 15.7 x 20.1in
Photo Design Co., Third Field Artillery Brigade: 3rd Division, Army of Occupation, Thur, Germany, July 14, 1919 the Marne Division, Gelatin silver print, black and white; 10.2 x 12.2in
Mario de Biasi, L’incappucciato [1950], Gelatin silver print, black and white; 11 x 13.8in
Christian Schad, Hommage a Dada [1976], 10 silver prints (photographs) and one etching; various and irregular sizes
