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The George Eastman Museum to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11

Apr 02nd, 2019

The George Eastman Museum to celebrate the

50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing this summer

A new rotation in the History of Photography Gallery highlighting the moon and photography will open on May 3

 

Rochester, N.Y., April 2, 2019—This year makes the fiftieth anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969. The George Eastman Museum will open a new rotation in its History of Photography Gallery on May 3, which will celebrate the anniversary as well as examine the intersecting histories of photography and space exploration. 

 

A source of artistic inspiration, scientific inquiry, and popular fascination, the moon has long been an important subject of visual culture since before the invention of photography. This selection of objects from the photography collection ranges from stereoscopic views made through a telescope, amateur snapshots, and scientific documents to artworks by Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, Ansel Adams, László Moholy-Nagy, and Linda Connor, among others. A small selection of objects from the technology collection—including the Lunar Orbiter and a design model of the Apollo Lunar Surface Close-Up Camera—will also be on view.

This installation of photographs in the History of Photography Gallery was co-curated by Lisa Hostetler, curator in charge of the Department of Photography; Tracy Stuber, Kress Interpretive Fellow; and students in the master’s program in Photographic Preservation and Collection Management Sarah Brody, Delaney Duvall-Linehan, and Candice Yates. The exhibition will remain on view through October 20, 2019.

Public Programming

Focus 45: The Moon and Photography

Saturday, June 15, 12 p.m.

Curtis Theatre

Tracy Stuber, the Eastman Museum's 2018–19 Kress Interpretive Fellow, will discuss the selections from the photography collection featured in the latest rotation in the History of Photography Gallery. Inspired by the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, this installation explores the moon as an object of photographic fascination for artists, scientists, and amateurs alike. Stuber will also discuss her involvement in developing new digital engagement interactives for the gallery. Free to members; included with museum admission.

In addition to the Focus 45 talk in June, the Eastman Museum will be offering a variety of programs on and around and the July 20 anniversary of the moon landing. For more information on public programs as it becomes available, visit eastman.org.

About the History of Photography Gallery
The George Eastman Museum photography collection is among the best and most comprehensive in the world. With holdings that include objects ranging in date from the announcement of the medium’s invention in 1839 to the present day, the collection represents the full history of photography. Works by renowned masters of the medium exist side-by-side with vernacular and scientific photographs. The collection also includes all applications of the medium, from artistic pursuit to commercial enterprise and from amateur pastime to documentary record, as well as all types of photographic processes, from daguerreotypes to digital prints. The museum's History of Photography Gallery is dedicated to rotating installations that demonstrate photography’s historical trajectory through photographs and cameras drawn from the collection. The selection of photographs changes twice a year and each rotation offers new opportunities to engage with the museum's treasures.

About the George Eastman Museum

Founded in 1947, the George Eastman Museum is the world’s oldest photography museum and one of the largest film archives in the United States, located on the historic Rochester estate of entrepreneur and philanthropist George Eastman, the pioneer of popular photography. Its holdings comprise more than 400,000 photographs, 28,000 motion picture films, the world’s preeminent collection of photographic and cinematographic technology, one of the leading libraries of books related to photography and cinema, and extensive holdings of documents and other objects related to George Eastman. As a research and teaching institution, the Eastman Museum has an active publishing program and, through its two joint master’s degree programs with the University of Rochester, makes critical contributions to the fields of film preservation and of photographic preservation and collection management. For more information, visit eastman.org.

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