Photography
Gordon Parks’s Photographs of Ella Watson Beyond American Gothic
Six photographs from Parks’s 1942 Washington series follow Watson from the flag portrait into her home and neighborhood.
Nov 11, 2026
Visual history
Stories tagged Visual history
Art
What old postcards wanted you to see
Street life, railway stations and an imagined New York reveal how postcards could picture a place, sell an idea and change from one printing to the next.
Nov 7, 2026
Culture
Stereographs made distant places feel close
Paired photographs brought city streets and waterfalls into the home. Two historical cards show how the format made depth part of the attraction.
Nov 5, 2026
Art
Hiroshige made the rain part of the picture
A bridge in a downpour and a plum garden show how Hiroshige used weather, framing and empty space to give a place its character.
Nov 5, 2026
Culture
Migrant Mother Was Never Just One Photograph
Looking beyond Dorothea Lange’s familiar portrait changes what we can ask of an iconic image, its caption and the archive around it.
Nov 5, 2026
Art
Anna Atkins Made a Book Out of Blue Shadows
Anna Atkins’s algae cyanotypes turn specimens, sunlight and handwritten names into pages that reward a closer look.
Nov 5, 2026
