Edited with text by Sarah Hermanson Meister. Contribution by LaToya Ruby Frazier.
A portrait of one of the earliest African American and Native American colleges, from an album found in a bookstore by Lincoln Kirstein
Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864–1952), credited as the first female photojournalist in the United States, was commissioned in 1899 to photograph the Hampton Institute, then a 30-year-old institution dedicated to the education of young African American and Native American men and women. What became known as the Hampton Album—comprised of 159 luxurious platinum plates that offer insight into the daily life of students, originally exhibited in 1900 at the Exposition Universelle in Paris—is Johnston’s signature work, and a touchstone for contemporary artists and historians.
The leatherbound album was discovered serendipitously by Lincoln Kirstein in a Washington, DC, bookstore during World War II, and donated to MoMA in 1965. This volume makes the album available to the public in its entirety for the first time, and features a contextualizing essay by curator Sarah Hermanson Meister and a response to the album from artist LaToya Ruby Frazier.
Featured image is reproduced from 'Frances Benjamin Johnston: The Hampton Album.'
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
New York Times: Book Review
Luc Sante
Johnston’s photographs show students attending lectures or practicing manual skills, and they are so deliberately posed and choreographically distributed that they appear suspended in space; the scenes resemble theater photos of the fin de siècle, or early film stills.
in stock $50.00
Free Shipping
UPS GROUND IN THE CONTINENTAL U.S. FOR CONSUMER ONLINE ORDERS
FORMAT: Hbk, 12 x 9 in. / 192 pgs / 173 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $50.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $69.95 ISBN: 9781633450813 PUBLISHER: The Museum of Modern Art, New York AVAILABLE: 5/21/2019 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: NA ONLY
Published by The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Edited with text by Sarah Hermanson Meister. Contribution by LaToya Ruby Frazier.
A portrait of one of the earliest African American and Native American colleges, from an album found in a bookstore by Lincoln Kirstein
Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864–1952), credited as the first female photojournalist in the United States, was commissioned in 1899 to photograph the Hampton Institute, then a 30-year-old institution dedicated to the education of young African American and Native American men and women. What became known as the Hampton Album—comprised of 159 luxurious platinum plates that offer insight into the daily life of students, originally exhibited in 1900 at the Exposition Universelle in Paris—is Johnston’s signature work, and a touchstone for contemporary artists and historians.
The leatherbound album was discovered serendipitously by Lincoln Kirstein in a Washington, DC, bookstore during World War II, and donated to MoMA in 1965. This volume makes the album available to the public in its entirety for the first time, and features a contextualizing essay by curator Sarah Hermanson Meister and a response to the album from artist LaToya Ruby Frazier.
