The Center for Creative Photography (CCP) at the University of Arizona is celebrating its 50th anniversary with “Picture Party: Celebrating the Collection at 50,” an exhibition showcasing more than 100 iconic images, recent acquisitions and archival objects from its world-renowned collection.
Opening May 3, the exhibition offers a fresh, dynamic experience that invites visitors to explore photography in new and unexpected ways in the Alice Chaiten Baker Interdisciplinary Gallery.
“For the past 50 years, CCP has been an extraordinary, ever evolving resource for our students, faculty, and residents of Southern Arizona, as well as for an international community of scholars, artists, and passionate devotees of photography,” said Andy Schulz, vice president for the arts and dean of the College of Fine Arts. “No other institution of higher education has anything quite like it. I’m looking forward to celebrating this milestone for CCP with our campus and community.”
“The heart of the CCP is its vast collection, and “Picture Party” celebrates the countless ways photographs and objects can be brought together to ask new questions, create new connections, and inspire new scholarship and research,” said CCP Director Todd J. Tubutis. “We invite everyone to join the party to help celebrate 50 years of collecting at the Center – you’ll be sure to discover something new.”
(Right) Jo Ann Callis, Man with Tie, 1977, 1977, Dye imbibition print, Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona: Purchase © Jo Ann Callis
A New Approach to Viewing Photography
Departing from a traditional chronological or thematic structure, “Picture Party” encourages a more open-ended and interactive experience, co-curated by Chief Curator Rebecca Senf and Emilia Mickevicius, Norton Family Assistant Curator, with Emily Una Weirich, Public Services Manager.
One example of this approach is a group of nine landscape prints spanning nearly a century, which together explore themes of abstraction and realism, the expressive power of natural elements, and the impact of technology on the land. Another is a salon-style wall of more than 20 portraits, inviting fresh connections across people, places, bodies, cultures, and eras.
The exhibition brings together works by renowned photographers – including the CCP co-founder Ansel Adams, Harry Callahan, Tseng Kwong Chi, Imogen Cunningham, Roy DeCarava, Robert Heinecken, Graciela Iturbide, Susan Meiselas, Minor White, and Carrie Mae Weems – alongside emerging artists, creating unexpected juxtapositions that spark fresh perspectives.
Archival Objects
In addition to prints, the exhibition will also feature interesting, archival objects from the collection, like:
- Ansel Adams’ dodging and burning tools: These handmade tools help illustrate the way a photographer crafts a gelatin silver print. Includes the tool Adams used on his famous black-and-white image, “Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico.”
- David Hume Kennerly’s helmet: Dating from his Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the Vietnam War, a poignant reminder of the bodily risk assumed by photojournalists covering conflict.
- Lola Álvarez Bravo’s sunglasses, Edward Weston’s wedding ring, W. Eugene Smith’s fingerprints: A reminder that the photographers represented in the Center’s collection were and are real people.
- Southworth and Hawes daguerreotype: Among the earliest photographs owned by the Center for Creative Photography (19th century), from the Boston portrait studio of Albert Sands Southworth and Josiah Johnson Hawes.
CCP on Loan on the Road
Since its founding in 1975, CCP has been home to some of the most significant photographic archives in the world. With “Picture Party,” the institution reflects on its rich history while looking ahead to new possibilities in photographic research, curation, and public engagement.
While the new exhibition is on view in Tucson, exhibitions and works on loan from the institution can be seen in the United States in Cleveland, Des Moines, Oklahoma City, and Phoenix, with prints from the CCP’s Edward Weston Archive being prepared for a major three-venue exhibition in Spain and Italy organized by Fundaćion MAPFRE.
About the CCP
The Center for Creative Photography is the largest institution in North America devoted to the research and exhibition of photography. At the heart of CCP’s holdings are more than 300 archives of photographers, scholars, galleries, and organizations, complemented by an unparalleled collection of some 120,000 fine prints. In addition, CCP focuses on preserving and stewarding its holdings through a robust conservation program and digital imaging unit. The Center owns and manages copyrights for a selection of archive artists and supports licensing and image file delivery to publishers, authors, educators, and filmmakers worldwide. As a unit of Arizona Arts at the University of Arizona, the Center maintains a robust calendar of free exhibitions and programs for the public, serves students and faculty through curricular engagements, and awards several international research fellowships annually.