Photographer once known, American, Vernacular photograph, 1906, cyanotype; Gift of Peter J. Cohen, 2024.38.9
Who took these photographs? Who are the people featured in these images? Where were they made? When? Many of the questions curators seek to address cannot be answered about the recent gift of 156 snapshots from photography collector Peter J. Cohen.
The Museum’s photography collection continues to grow, including this gift of snapshots that arrived last September. Despite the missing information about these snapshots, within the group is a rich history of photography. Beginning with the round-format images created by George Eastman’s first roll film camera, the Kodak No. 1, these works show the history of the medium of photography in the hands of ordinary people making images of everyday life. The group moves through photographic technologies—cyanotypes, Photomatic photo booth prints, gelatin silver prints, and more—revealing the evolution of everyday engagement with photography. Together this group expands the history of photography the BMA can share with visitors.
Cohen is a collector who has brought together more than 60,000 every day (or vernacular) photographs purchased at flea markets, antique shops, dealers, and online sources. These images are organized into more than 130 categories in his New York home to present a vast history of amateur photography following the invention of the Kodak box camera in the 1880s. This history extends across the United States and the world but also reaches back to Birmingham, with a photograph of a Carver High School student, which joins the BMA collection as part of this gift.
Everything in this group of works can be categorized as snapshots, largely taken by once known but now-anonymous photographers of now-anonymous subjects. This is the photography of everyday life created largely with handheld cameras, showcasing people’s engagement with the medium, and including the accidents and mistakes that ensued as life was captured. Within the group are blurred images and double exposures, and in many cases “mistakes” of the medium create some of the group’s most compelling images. Cohen writes: “As ‘anonymous’ photographs are rescued they become societal artifacts that collectively trace a history of private image making. These visual objects offer a deeper understanding of the amateur photographer’s engagement with the ubiquitous medium.”
Image Credits
From left to right
- Photographer once known, American, Photomatic photo booth vernacular photograph, 1953, gelatin silver print; Gift of Peter J. Cohen, 2024.38.13
- Photographer once known, American, Vernacular photograph, about 1950, gelatin silver print; Gift of Peter J. Cohen, 2024.38.23
- Photographer once known, American, Vernacular photograph, 1960–1961, gelatin silver print; Gift of Peter J. Cohen, 2024.38.60
- Photographer once known, American, Vernacular photograph, about 1915, gelatin silver print; Gift of Peter J. Cohen, 2024.38.67