The Kimbell Art Museum’s First-Ever Photography Exhibition Brings a Century of Images to Fort Worth

Photographs saturate our waking lives, from outdoor advertising imposed on the public to Instagram feeds curated by uncannily adept algorithms. The Kimbell Art Museum’s new exhibition, Photography’s First Century: Masterworks from the Bibliothèque nationale de France, revisits a medium so familiar that we often overlook its extraordinary origins.

Organized in conjunction with France’s national library in Paris, the collection of more than 150 images traces photography’s evolution from an entertaining pastime largely reserved for the wealthy to an increasingly accessible medium that captured everything from world events to domestic life.

From early 19th-century letters describing the pioneering technology to photography’s ascension as a powerful avant-garde medium a century later, the Kimbell’s first-ever photography exhibit guides visitors through a complex history, beautifully illustrated by the inventors, proponents, and artists who created — sometimes unintentionally — a new way of seeing the world.

From Early Experiments to Fine Art Masterpieces

While recent Kimbell exhibitions have inspired awe with monumental Roman marble sculptures and elaborate religious garments from the Holy Land, Photography’s First Century takes a more intimate approach, drawing viewers closer rather than aiming to impress them with grandeur.

The Renzo Piano Pavilion is tightly partitioned, guiding visitors chronologically through photography’s evolution, from Louis Daguerre’s development of one of the first practical photographic processes to more familiar 20th-century uses of the medium in fashion and photojournalism.

Several images throughout the space caught my attention, from Henri Le Secq’s paper negatives that mimicked traditional still-life paintings of the period — a reminder of the early confluence of the two art forms — to a satirical illustration of pioneering photographer Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (Nadar) photographing Paris from a hot-air balloon.

Gustave Le Gray’s images of beaches capture photography’s ability to hold Mother Nature immutable, while Louis-Émile Durandelle brought a journalist’s eye to his photographs documenting the construction of the Paris Opéra in the 1860s and 1870s. Later images reveal the medium’s embrace by avant-garde artists like Man Ray, who pushed photography to the edge of modern art in the 1920s and beyond.

Several famous cultural figures make cameos throughout the exhibit, including composer Gioachino Rossini, novelist Alexandre Dumas, and painter Pablo Picasso. Then as now, photographers with the connections to attract celebrities into their studios could benefit as much from their subjects’ fame as from their own ability to capture compelling portraits.

Photography’s Lasting Impression

Just over a decade ago, the Amon Carter Museum of American Art presented Color! American Photography Transformed, which explored how color revolutionized the medium. How utterly pleasurable it would have been to walk from the Kimbell’s current exhibition to another show that perfectly bookends photography’s journey from silver prints to kaleidoscopic visuals! The fact that Fort Worth’s Cultural District covered such a breadth of photography — even a decade apart — is a testament to the world-class art we enjoy in our city.

As previously noted, Photography’s First Century: Masterworks from the Bibliothèque nationale de France is not as immediately visually stunning as past Kimbell exhibitions featuring dramatic naval scenes by J. M. W. Turner or massive ancient sarcophagi from the Mediterranean. With Treasures of the Pharaohs arriving in 2027, it is apropos that the Kimbell’s curatorial staff gave us a breather — a chance to learn about a visual medium that willed itself into the fine art world through trial and error and a dogged determination to capture the world from a fresh perspective.

Perhaps my biggest takeaway from the show, given the encroachment of AI in our lives, was the exhibition’s reminder that manipulation of photographic reality isn’t a digital-age invention. Artists, publishers, photography collectors, and the general public have often grappled with the proper use of photography, understanding both its value to society and its potential for misuse through propaganda and self-enrichment.

As much as any exhibition can, the Kimbell’s current show provides ample context and carefully researched history for a thoughtful exploration of the complicated relationship between photography, artistic expression, and objective reality.

Photography’s First Century: Masterworks from the Bibliothèque nationale de France runs through January 17, 2027, at the Kimbell Art Museum, 3333 Camp Bowie Boulevard, Fort Worth. For tickets and more information, visit Kimbellart.org.