ArtistsBarbara Morgan
Barbara Morgan

Barbara Morgan

Artist
PhotographyPhotographyPerformance Art
Representation
None documented
12
Institutional Exhibitions
37
Works in Collection
81
Assets Indexed
1
Authority-backed Facts
0
Publications Referenced
90%
Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Movements
  • Photography
  • Performance Art
Related Artists
No edges recorded
Influence Graph
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Selected Institutional Exhibitions

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No image
Collage and the Photo-Image
Museum of Modern Art, New York
1973
No image
Barbara Morgan: Photographs
Museum of Modern Art, New York
1972
No image
30th Anniversary Special Installation - Towards the "New" Museum
Museum of Modern Art, New York
1959
No image
Photographs from the Museum Collection
Museum of Modern Art, New York
1958–1959
No image
The Family of Man
Museum of Modern Art, New York
1955
About

Why this artist matters now

Barbara Morgan was an American photographer and printmaker whose work bridged modernism and documentary practice across seven decades. She pioneered light-abstraction photography in the 1930s and 1940s, creating dynamic compositions through multiple exposures and experimental darkroom techniques. Her photographs of Martha Graham's dance performances rank among the most significant visual records of modern dance. Morgan's practice also encompassed lithography, drawing, and photomontage, often addressing themes of human movement, labor, and social transformation.

Source: Moma Bulk 2026 05 04 · Trust score: 92% · Updated 25d ago

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement
Photography
Medium
Photography
Related Artists
12 in graph
Institutional

Museum Collections

Canonical record

Artworks (37)

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Record

Images

Martha Graham - letter to the world (1940)
Rijksmuseum
Jose Limon, Mexican Suite, Peon (Art Institute of Chicago)
Art Institute of Chicago
Institutional

Representation & Collections

In collection
Rijksmuseum
In collection
Cleveland Museum of Art
In collection
Museum of Modern Art
New York, US
In collection
Art Institute of Chicago
Record

Selected Credits

12 total
1973Collage and the Photo-ImageMuseum of Modern Artexhibition
1972Barbara Morgan: PhotographsMuseum of Modern Artexhibition
1955The Family of ManMuseum of Modern Artexhibition
1951Christmas PhotographsMuseum of Modern Artexhibition
1951Abstraction in PhotographyMuseum of Modern Artexhibition
1945Modern American DanceMuseum of Modern Artexhibition
1944PhotographyMuseum of Modern Artexhibition
1943Action PhotographyMuseum of Modern Artexhibition
1943PortraitsMuseum of Modern Artexhibition
Record

Exhibitions and timeline

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