TUCSON, Ariz. — The Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona is marking its 50th anniversary with a new exhibition titled "Picture Party: Celebrating the Collection at 50," opening May 3 and running through December 20.
The exhibition features over 100 photographs and archival items from the center's extensive holdings, which include more than 120,000 prints and 300 archival collections.
Notable photographers represented include Ansel Adams, Harry Callahan, Tseng Kwong Chi, Imogen Cunningham, Roy DeCarava, Robert Heinecken, Graciela Iturbide, Susan Meiselas, Minor White, and Carrie Mae Weems.
Rebecca Senf, chief curator at the center, described the exhibition's concept.
"The exhibition is called Picture Party, and we think about these groupings like gatherings of people," Senf said. "The artworks come into conversation, and the relationships between them are like conversations at a big gathering."
In addition to photographs, the exhibition includes unique archival objects, such as Ansel Adams' dodging and burning tools used in creating his iconic "Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico," and the helmet worn by Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer David Hume Kennerly during his coverage of the Vietnam War.
Senf also highlighted the depth of the center's collection.
"The Center for Creative Photography has an amazing collection of... over 120,000 prints and over 300 archives," she said. "That includes things like negatives, and contact sheets and working materials, and things that tell us about lives of photographers."
Founded in 1975 by Ansel Adams and then-University President John Schaefer, the center has grown into a premier institution for the study and preservation of photography.
"Picture Party" is on display in the Alice Chaiten Baker Interdisciplinary Gallery. Admission is free, and the center is open Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
