Our Selves: Photographs by Women Artists From Helen Kornblum

This publication highlights the exceptional gift of 108 photographs by women artists from the collection of Helen Kornblum to The Museum of Modern Art.

Conceived in conjunction with an exhibition opening at The Museum of Modern Art in 2022, this publication focuses on an exceptional gift of 108 photographs by women artists from the collection of Helen Kornblum, distinguished member of MoMA’s Committee on Photography. The publication will highlight this significant acquisition, which contributes to the Museum’s continuous effort to research and rethink twentieth century art history narratives by amplifying the presence of women artists. Like the exhibition, the book will be structured around thematic groupings, arranged chronologically, and each prefaced by a short text. Special attention will be devoted to topics such as: pictorialist portraiture, surrealist explorations, portraits of artists, the social documentary, advertising, photography and language, photojournalism, gender and the media, still life and domesticity, performance for the camera, and to the camera as a means of personal artistic expression.

From modernists such as Claude Cahun and Yva to contemporary photographer Catherine Opie, many of the works in this volume elicit conversations about queer subjectivity. Themes related to colonial history and indigeneity are addressed in photographic projects by both Native artists such as Cara Romero and Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie, and non-Native practitioners including Graciela Iturbide, Sharon Lockhart, Meridel Rubenstein, Tatiana Parcero, and Tracey Moffatt. Lorna Simpson and Carrie Mae Weems offer uniquely feminist African-diasporic viewpoints on the relationship of race and gender. Our Selves presents a series of new perspectives that rise to our current moment, addressing the urgent need for more intersectional conversations in the arts.