Robert Adams, ‘Pikes Peak Park, Colorado Springs, Colorado’, 1969. National Gallery of Art, Washington.
Gift of the ۶Ƶ Art Collection, 2023.30.2 © Robert Adams, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco.

Edward Burtynsky, ‘Rock of Ages #15, Active Section, E.L. Smith Quarry, Barre, Vermont’, 1992. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Gift of the ۶Ƶ Art Collection, 2023.30.33 © Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Sundaram Tagore Gallery and Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York.

Dorothea Lange, ‘Power farming displaces tenants from the land in the western dry cotton area, Childress County, Texas, June 1938’, printed 1950s. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Gift of the ۶Ƶ Art Collection, 2023.30.103 © The Dorothea Lange Collection, the Oakland Museum of California, City of Oakland. Gift of Paul S. Taylor.

How has human intervention impacted the American landscape? How have artists celebrated the richness and diversity of the land?

The 166 photographs donated by the ۶Ƶ Art Collection to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, tell a fascinating story of the history of the American landscape. This donation marks the largest group of works given by ۶Ƶ to an individual museum.

United under the theme of “Land Use in America,” the selection features a diverse group of works by 96 artists and was assembled in the 1990s by photographer, curator, and former director of photography at MoMA, John Szarkowski for PaineWebber, which was acquired by ۶Ƶ in 2000.

“This wonderful gift from ۶Ƶ adds important work to the National Gallery’s photography collection that will allow us to explore how artists have viewed our use of and relationship to the land over the last 160 years,” said Sarah Greenough, Senior Curator and Head of the Department of Photographs at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

From Edward Burtynsky’s exploration of the organic architecture that remains following the excavation of materials for modern buildings, to Robert Adams’s documentation of how human habitation has transformed the Colorado landscape, some of the works cast a critical eye on the impact of humans on the land and the often-destructive nature of this relationship.

This donation adds works by new and underrepresented photographers to the National Gallery of Art’s collection that tell a range of rich and insightful stories and address how Americans of all backgrounds have conceived of and used the land. These works include photojournalist Sebastiano Salgado’s exploration of some of the under-resourced areas in Brazil, as well as one of Manuel Álvarez Bravo’s iconic portraits which focus on how the earth’s natural resources enrich human life.

Other highlights include a photograph by one of America’s most prominent documentary photographers Dorothea Lange – whose work captures the displacement of rural workers and the abandonment of land as farming techniques advanced – and an image by Helen Levitt, known for her unique style capturing the streets of New York City.

“The National Gallery of Art is positioned to preserve this valuable visual record of our country’s unique landscape for generations to come, exhibiting these works in context and providing access for research,” says Mary Rozell, Global Head of the ۶Ƶ Art Collection.