This is the first major exhibition devoted to the history of doctored photographs, from hand-painted daguerreotypes and altered salt prints of the 1840s to the pre-digital dreamscapes of the late twentieth century. While Photoshop and other digital editing programs have brought about an increased awareness of the degree to which photographs can be manipulated, photographers—including such major artists as Gustave Le Gray, Henry Peach Robinson, Edward Steichen, and John Baldessari—have been fabricating, modifying, and otherwise mani... Read more

This is the first major exhibition devoted to the history of doctored photographs, from hand-painted daguerreotypes and altered salt prints of the 1840s to the pre-digital dreamscapes of the late twentieth century. While Photoshop and other digital editing programs have brought about an increased awareness of the degree to which photographs can be manipulated, photographers—including such major artists as Gustave Le Gray, Henry Peach Robinson, Edward Steichen, and John Baldessari—have been fabricating, modifying, and otherwise manipulating camera images since the medium was first invented. Featuring some two hundred visually captivating photographs created in the service of art, politics, news, entertainment, and commerce, this international loan exhibition will significantly revise our understanding of photographic history as it traces the medium’s complex and changing relationship to visual truth.