Since 2000, the Montclair Art Museum has expanded its photography collection through strategic acquisitions and generous donations of historic, modern, and contemporary works. The exhibition’s title pays homage to the platinum printing technique of the nineteenth century, renowned for its rich, subtle hues ranging from charcoal gray to sepia, as seen in Karl Struss’s Lower Manhattan (ca. 1911–1912).

Highlights of the exhibition include photo postcards by Bill Dane, created between 1973 and 1979 and affectionately sent to his friend Diana Edkins, a longtime photography curator and scholar who donated them to MAM last year. Together, these works trace the history of photography, from the velvety tones and soft focus of Pictorialism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to the conceptual and varied approaches of contemporary artists.

Learn More / Source: https://www.montclairartmuseum.org/exhibition/platinum-postcards-collecting-photography-mam-2000-2025