V&A’s Photographs Acquisition Group
Photography at the V&A
The V&A’s photography collection is one of best and broadest in the world, dating from the 1800s to the present day. It is international in scope and comprises over 800,000 photographs, covering an exceptional range of processes, styles and genres, from fashion photography to photojournalism, documentary photography to conceptual art and daguerreotypes to digital practice.
The collection contains some of the oldest photographs in the history of the medium, including by William Henry Fox Talbot, Anna Atkins and Nicéphore Niépce. The V&A’s nineteenth-century holdings are some of the richest in the world, with large bodies of work by Julia Margaret Cameron, Lady Clementina Hawarden, and Roger Fenton. The museum also has a significant collection of twentieth-century material, including photographs by Paul Strand, Dorothea Lange, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Bill Brandt.
Since 2017, the Royal Photographic Society Collection has formed a major part of the V&A’s holdings. It includes over 270,000 photographs, a library of 26,000 photographic books and periodicals, more than 6,000 cameras and pieces of related equipment, and an important archive of documents and letters.
Photographs Acquisition Group
Since beginning in 2011, the Photographs Acquisition Group have enabled the purchase of over 80 bodies of work (totalling more than 1250 prints). These works are put on display in the Photography Centre at V&A South Kensington, exhibitions, feature in publications or are used for educational projects and new research.
Collecting Focus
The Photographs Acquisition Group builds on the V&A’s extraordinary legacy, concentrating on mid-career artists and major names missing from the collection. Recent contemporary acquisitions include photographs by Richard Learoyd, Vera Lutter, Susan Derges, Sammy Baloji and Sunil Gupta, as well important works by lesser-known artists.
Cathy Wills is an active member of the V&A’s Photographs Acquisition Group
Images, text and logo courtesy of the V&A © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Photograph by Darren Harvey-Regan entitled 'More or Less Obvious Forms,' C-type print, 2012. Purchase funded by the Photographs Acquisition Group. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London/ Darren Harvey-Regan
Photograph by Tom Wood, Untitled from 'Looking for Love', 1982-6, c-type print. Purchase funded by the Photographs Acquisition Group. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London / Tom Wood
'Lightning Fields 225', from the series Lightning Fields, by Hiroshi Sugimoto (2009). Purchase funded by the Photographs Acquisition Group. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London/ Hiroshi Sugimoto
Photograph by Hoda Afshar, 'Untitled #29' from the series 'Speak the Wind', 2020. Purchase funded by the Photographs Acquisition Group. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London/ Hoda Afshar
Photograph by James Barnor, 'Two friends dressed for a church celebration with James' car, Accra (ca. 1970)'. Purchase funded by the Photographs Acquisition Group. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London/ James Barnor
Photograph by Maurizio Anzeri, 'Heavenly Sounds Mountain Pink', part three of triptych, 2018. Purchase funded by the Photographs Acquisition Group. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London/ Maurizio Anzeri.
Photograph by Hoda Afshar, 'Untitled #1' from the series 'Speak the Wind', 2020. Purchase funded by the Photographs Acquisition Group. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London/ Hoda Afshar
Photograph by Dafna Talmor, 'Untitled (JE-12121212-2)', 2015, from the series 'Constructed Landscapes'. Purchase funded by the Photographs Acquisition Group. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London/ Dafna Talmor
Photograph by Steven Pippin, 'Mamiya 330', 2010, print one of a diptych (front view of camera). From the series 'Non Event'. Purchase funded by the Photographs Acquisition Group. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London/ Steven Pippin