Princeton exhibition traces how Minor White and peers shaped art photography

An exhibition at Princeton University examines how photographers Minor White, Aaron Siskind, and Harry Callahan transformed photography from the 1940s to the 1970s. Titled "Photography as a Way of Life," it features works by these three pioneers along with images by Jan Davis, Donna-Lee Phillips, Ming Smith, Walter Chappell, Nathan Lyons, and others. White founded Aperture magazine in 1952 and served as its editor for 23 years; he taught at the California School of Fine Arts, Rochester Institute of Technology, and MIT. Siskind, a New Yorker, was an English teacher for 25 years before teaching at IIT Institute of Design and Rhode Island School of Design; he founded the Photo League and published "Harlem Document" in 1981. Callahan, a Detroit native, worked at Chrysler and General Motors Photographic Laboratories before teaching at the New Bauhaus (Institute of Design) and RISD; he received a Guggenheim Fellowship and the ICP Master of Photography Infinity Award. Ming Smith was the first African-American female photographer in MoMA's collection and the first woman in the Kamoinge collective. The exhibition runs from May 6, 2026, at Princeton University.