Almost immediately after opening in 1965, the Israel Museum was already devoting time and space to photography exhibitions. In the spirit of this commitment, in the 1970s the decision was made to establish an independent photography department, which was a pioneering act at the time, when very few art museums in the world had the vision to do so. New York master photographer Arnold Newman began collecting works for the department, which opened in 1977 and officially became active at the end of 1979.

Since its inception, the Department of Photography has compiled an encyclopedic international collection addressing all areas of photography from its formative years to contemporary creations. It has become an essential source for study and research in Israel. Today the collection comprises over 55,000 items including rare and unique masterpieces, some of them representing milestones in the history of photography, placing the Israel Museum among the leading international institutions in this field. Over the years, the department has also developed several areas of expertise and special interest such as early photography in the Near East. Photography of the Dada and Surrealist period is another of the fields strongly represented in the collection.

As part of its commitment to collecting and preserving the photographic heritage of the country, the Museum has acquired several bodies of work by preeminent pioneers in the medium, such as Mendel John Diness, the first Jewish photographer to capture images of Jerusalem in the mid-nineteenth century; Yaakov Ben Dov, an early-twentieth-century photographer; Yaakov (Jack) Rosner; and S. J. Schweig, who was active from the 1930s on. The Museum owns some 12,000 of Schweig’s negatives and 20,000 by Alfred Bernheim, one of the great architecture and portrait photographers in Israel. The latest addition has been the estate of the internationally renowned photojournalist Nahum Tim Gidal.

The department also devotes close attention to the promotion and encouragement of contemporary Israeli photography, and to this end presents periodic one-person and group exhibitions of Israeli creators while conducting a cautious but active acquisition program. Our exhibition program covers a wide range of subjects and all areas in the history of the medium, from the nineteenth century to today, both national and international.

Nissan N. Perez
Horace and Grace Goldsmith Senior Curator of Photography

Auguste Salzmann , French, 1824–1872 Fragments Juda ï que et Romain , 1854 Salt print, 23.4 x 30.7 cm		Gustave Le Gray , French, 1820–1882Un Effet de Soleil, Ocean no. 23 , 1856 Albumen print, 31 x 40.7 cm		Carlo Naya , Italian, 1816–1882 Untitled (Beggar in Cairo), 1876		Man Ray (Emmanuel Radnitzky), American, active France, 1890–1976Untitled , 1921 Rayogram (gelatin silver print), 61.5 x 23.8 cm
Ben Shahn , American (b. Russia), 1898–1969View of Freeze Fork, West Virginia , 1935Gelatin silver print, 25.6 x 33.2	Dora Maar, French (b. Russia), 1907–1997 Preliminary photograph for 29 rue d'Astorg , 1936	Tim Gidal (Ignaz Nahum Gidalevitsch), Israeli (b. Germany) 1909–1996 Hebrew lesson, Palestine, 1937 Gelatin silver print, 18.9 x 18.1 cm	Brassaï (Gyula Halász) , French (b. Hungary) 1899–1984 Graffiti Parisien, 1957 Gelatin silver print, 30.1 x 23.1 cm
Dalia Amotz , Israeli, 1938–1994Untitled, 1980Gelatin silver print, 43 x 43.5 cm	Adi Nes , Israeli, born 1966 Untitled (Last Supper) , 1999 Chromogenic print, 90 x 144 cm.