"The Photograph and the American Dream, 1840-1940"
2001-09-28 until 2002-01-06
Van Gogh Museum
Amsterdam, , NL

This autumn, the Van Gogh Museum is presenting a survey of American photography from the years 1840 to 1940. The exhibits are drawn from the extensive and remarkable collection of the American expert Stephen White. With around 200 original prints by famous and little-known photographers a picture is presented of a century of American photography. It is the first time a selection of photos from this unique collection has been exhibited.

Photography was to help establish America’s identity from its invention in 1839. In the 1840’s the first photographers began travelling the New World in search of customers to photograph. Wandering from town to town and farm to farm with their primitive equipment they immortalised families and individuals on their light-sensitive plates called daguerreotypes. These pictures provide the first photographic record of America.

The six themes of this exhibition reveal different facets of the American Dream in the decisive years between 1840 and 1940. It was a period in which a national identity emerged, when the nation fought for freedom, established values, began to develop as an industrial power and when towns were built throughout the country.

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