Old photographs for a new image

Thanks to a gift of 543 photographs from an anonymous donor, the Palm Springs Art Museum is transforming its photography collection and expanding its exhibition program.

The donation surveys camera art from the mid-19th to the late 20th centuries, with pockets of strength in early photography and Pictorialist images by artists such as Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen and Julia Margaret Cameron. It also includes views of Egypt and Palestine taken by Francis Frith in the 1850s, street scenes of early 20th century Paris by Eugene Atget, dramatically modern compositions by Edward Weston, experimental pieces by Lyonel Feininger and poetic landscapes by Harry Callahan.

“The great beauty of this is that it gives us a foundational collection,” said Steven Nash, who became director of the museum less than a year ago. “In the past, our photography collection, although large in numbers, was extremely limited in breadth. We have 50,000 photographs, but 30,000 of those are celebrity photographs and another 18,000 or so are desert landscape photography.” The rest are predominantly works by contemporary artists from California.

“We had vast areas without any representation whatsoever,” Nash said. “This provides a very strong base for us to build upon in the future. We see photography as a great growth area and, in the long term, a specialization for the museum.”

The first exhibition of new additions is expected to take place in 2009 or early 2010, after all the works are cataloged.

The donation developed “in a circuitous way,” Nash said, noting that the process was initiated by David Knaus, a photography collector and member of the museum’s collections committee who will head the institution’s new photography council. The donor fulfilled the museum’s request for a gift partly because “it does make such a huge impact here, unlike a mature collection where it would be absorbed and not stand out,” Nash said.

Photography shows are not new at the museum. Julius Shulman’s images of Palm Springs’ Modernist architecture are on view there through May 4, and Robert Mapplethorpe’s photographic portraits are coming in January. But Nash plans a greater variety of exhibitions, publications and other projects generated by the staff.

A new curator, Daniell Cornell, is already on board. A specialist in modern and contemporary art and photography, formerly of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, he was recently appointed deputy director for art and senior curator at the Palm Springs museum.

“We are even thinking about a residency program,” Nash said. “There are many collectors in the area and a lot of photographers working here. It’s a natural thing for us to emphasize.”

suzanne.muchnic@latimes.com