Intersections: Photographs and Videos from the National Gallery of Art and the Corcoran Gallery of Art

In 2014, the National Gallery of Art assumed stewardship of the Corcoran Gallery of Art’s renowned collection of paintings, sculpture, decorative arts, prints, drawings, photographs, and media arts. Intersections explores the connections between the two newly joined photography collections. It is organized around five themes—movement, sequence, narrative, studio, and identity—found in the work of the pioneers of each collection: Eadweard Muybridge (American, born England, 1830 - 1904) and Alfred Stieglitz (American, 1864 - 1946).

In 1887, the acquisition of nearly 700 prints from Muybridge’s groundbreaking series Animal Locomotion initiated the Corcoran’s early interest in photography. The 1949 gift of the Key Set of over 1,600 works by Stieglitz from Georgia O’Keeffe and the Alfred Stieglitz Estate launched the photography collection at the National Gallery of Art. Inspired by these two seminal artists, Intersections brings together highlights of the recently merged collections, demonstrating how they enrich one another and add to our understanding of art and culture from the last 175 years. The 85 photographs and videos on view made from the 1840s to the present include many that have not previously been exhibited.