Flashback: Two Centuries of Baltimore Photography

The artistry of Irving Henry Phillips, Sr., pioneering photographer for the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper, are among more than 200 images of Baltimore life on display, starting Sunday, Oct. 4, at the Baltimore Museum of Art. (Photo above: “Patriot” by Mr. Phillips.)

Flashback: Two Centuries of Baltimore Photography is hailed as the first comprehensive exhibition of Baltimore’s innovations in photography from the 1840’s to the present. The exhibition encompasses 210 images by 90 photographers and historic studios, “amplifying the voices and visions that capture the complexity, beauty and lived experience of Baltimore.” Even more diverse perspectives are featured in the Open Call, which includes 12 up-and-coming photographers who were selected to have their work projected in the exhibition and at BMA Lexington Market. Both Flashback and the Open Call will be on view through February 21, 2027.

Flashback traces photography in Baltimore from its earliest forms to contemporary works, including news photography. From rare daguerreotypes and Civil War–era photographs to images captured during landmark cultural moments, the exhibition shows photography evolving across generations and offers a rich, nuanced portrait of Baltimore.

“New research and fresh perspectives bring to light photographers whose work has often been obscured by gender and racial prejudices,” the BMA says. “The exhibition shows how photography not only records history but also shapes it, by asking: Who gets to take pictures? Who is seen? And how are images shared?”

Images by Arthur Laidler Macbeth, founder of one of the city’s earliest Black-owned portrait studios, and Dora Russell, who established one of Baltimore’s first woman-owned portrait studios, show how access to a camera allowed for new forms of visibility.

Examples of photojournalism from Irving Henry Phillips Sr.’s decades of work at the Afro, where he recorded Black life in Baltimore as a subject of national importance.

Selections from landmark documentary projects of the 1970’s, a period that saw multiple projects dedicated to recording Baltimore’s neighborhoods and the ethnic communities within them.

Images from the 2015 Baltimore Uprising and 2020 Black Lives Matter protests by Devin Allen, Sheila Pree Bright, Joseph Mario Giordano and Shawn Hubbard record the urgency of those moments and frame them as a collective experience rather than a distant event.

Here are the featured photographers:

• Berenice Abbott (b. Springfield, OH 1898; d. Monson, ME 1991)
• Devin Allen (b. Baltimore, MD 1988)
• American Stereoscopic Company (active Philadelphia, PA 1855 – 65; New York City, NY after 1865)
• Diane Arbus (b. New York, NY 1923; d. New York, NY 1971)
• Amos Badertscher (b. Baltimore, MD 1936; d. Baltimore, MD 2023)
• Edward L. Bafford (birthplace unknown, 1902; d. Glen Arm, MD, 1981)
• Bendann Bros (Daniel & David, b. Germany 1836 & 1841; d. Baltimore 1914 & 1915)
• Jennifer Bishop (b. Cleveland, OH 1957)
• Blessing & Co. (active Baltimore, MD 1887-1904)
• A. Aubrey Bodine (b. Baltimore, MD 1906; d. Baltimore, MD 1970)
• Ralph b. Bonwit (b. Chicago, IL 1895; d. Baltimore, MD 1935)
• Margaret Bourke-White (b. New York, NY 1904; d. Stamford, CT 1971)
• Sheila Pree Bright (b. Waycross, GA 1967)
• Jim Burger (b. Uniontown, PA 1960)
• Elinor B. Cahn (b. Baltimore, MD 1925; d. Baltimore, MD 2020)
• Joan Cassis (b. MD 1952; d. Baltimore, MD 1996)
• W. J. Chapman (b. Exeter, England 1830; d. c. 1923)
• William Moody Chase (b. Bolton, MA 1817; d. Boston, MA 1901; active Baltimore 1867-1894)
• Richard Childress (b. Wilmington, DE 1939; d. Baltimore, MD 1984)
• Carl Clark (b. Boston, MA 1933; d. Baltimore, MD 2015)
• Linda Day Clark (b. Fort Knox, KY 1963)
• Henry H. Clark (b. CT, 1815; d. after 1885)
• Robert Creamer (b. Cleveland, OH 1948)
• Cary Beth Cryor (b. Baltimore, MD 1947; d. Baltimore, MD 1997)
• Steven Cuffie (b. NC, 1949; d. Baltimore, MD, 2014)
• Liz Donadio (b. Niagara Falls, NY 1984) & Shannon Collis (b. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada 1978)
• Jill Fannon Prevas (b. Baltimore, MD 1982) & Ashley Minner Jones (b. Baltimore, MD 1983; enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina)
• Henry Fitz Jr. (b. Newburyport, MA 1808; d. New York, NY 1863)
• Susie Fitzhugh (b. New Orleans, LA 1942)
• Peggy Fox (b. Pittsburgh, PA 1941)
• Leonard Freed (b. Brooklyn, NY 1929; d. Garrison, NY 2006)
• Roland L. Freeman (b. Baltimore, MD 1936; d. Washington, DC 2023)
• Bill Gaskins (b. Philadelphia, PA 1953)
• Audrey Gatewood (born, Baltimore, MD 1995)
• Joseph Mario Giordano (b. Baltimore, MD 1973)
• Paula Gillen ( b. New Haven, CT 1956)
• Phylicia Ghee (b. Baltimore, MD 1988)
• Dennis C. Goldstein (b. 1946)
• R. Thomas Gregory (b. Baltimore, MD 1948)
• Emily Harrison Spencer Hayden (b. Baltimore County, MD 1869; d. 1949)
• Robert Houston (b. Baltimore, MD 1935; d. Baltimore, MD 2021)
• Shawn Hubbard (b. Baltimore, MD 1982)
• Mahtab Hussain (b. Glasgow, Scotland 1981)
• Connie Imboden (b. El Paso, TX 1953)
• Kei Ito (b. Tokyo, Japan 1991)
• Frances Benjamin Johnston (b. Grafton, WV 1864; d. New Orleans, LA 1952)
• NIA JUNE (b. Baltimore, MD 1995), Kirby Griffin, Jr. (b. Baltimore, MD 1988) & APoetNamedNate (b. Baltimore, MD 1994)
• Saskia Kahn (b. New York, NY 1988)
• The Keystone View Co. (active Meadeville, PA 1892-1963)
• Nate Larson (b. West Lafayette, IN 1978), Aylin Cerezo-Mendoza (b. Baltimore, MD2008), Destiny DeChamps (b. Baltimore, MD 2008), Lola Jones-Carter (b. Baltimore, MD 2010), Miya Jones (b. Baltimore, MD 2005), & Glori Mahammitt (b. Baltimore, MD 2007)
• David S. Lavine (b. Wilmington, DE 1945)
• Rockwood Lee (b. Baltimore, MD 1935)
• t.p. Luce (b. New Orleans, LA 1964)
• Arthur Laidler MacBeth (b. Charleston, SC 1862; d. Los Angeles County, CA 1944)
• Ben Marcin (b. Augsburg, Germany 1958)
• Rebecca Marimutu (b. New York, NY 1994)
• After Joseph D. Marsters (American, b. Canada, 1823; d. 1900)
• John Clark Mayden (b. Baltimore, MD 1951)
• Shae McCoy (b. Baltimore, MD 1991)
• Wright Morris (b. Central City, NE 1910; d. Mill Valley, CA 1998)
• William R. Mortimer (b. 1824; d. c. 1874)
• Christopher Myers (b. Baltimore, 1972)
• Joan Clark Netherwood (b. York, SC 1932; d. Joppa, MD 2021)
• Guillaume Pallat (b. Cognac, France 1967)
• Elle Pérez (b. Bronx, NY 1989)
• Palmer Lenfield Perkins (b. Beverly, NJ 1824; d. Baltimore, MD 1900)
• Irving Henry Phillips Sr. (b. Baltimore, MD 1920; d. Baltimore, MD 1993)
• John Plumbe Jr. (b. Powys, Wales 1809; d. Iowa 1857)
• Henry Pollock (b. Washington, DC 1810; d. 1889)
• Linda G. Rich (b. Cleveland, OH 1949)
• Jack Radcliffe (b. Elizabeth, NJ 1940)
• Richard D. Ridgely (b. c. 1829; d. after 1869; active Baltimore 1863-1869)
• Roger Riger (b. Manhattan, NY 1924; d. Huntington Beach, CA 1995)
• Kenneth Royster (b. Baltimore, MD 1944)
• Dora Russell (active Baltimore, 1894-1904)
• John William Schaefer (b. Maryland, 1862; d. 1928)
• Chuck Shacochis (b. Baltimore, MD 1969)
• Lynn Silverman (b. Syracuse, NY 1952)
• Josh Sinn (b. Hackensack, NJ 1991)
• Jared Soares (b. Santa Cruz, CA 1982)
• Bria Sterling-Wilson (b. Baltimore, MD 1993)
• James B. Trainor (active Baltimore, 1880-1904)
• Sara VanDerBeek (b. Baltimore, MD 1976)
• Gioncarlo Valentine (b. Baltimore, MD 1990)
• Elena Volkova (b. Kyiv, Ukraine 1975)
• Colette Veasey-Cullors (b. Texas City, TX 1967)
• SHAN Wallace (b. Baltimore, MD 1991)
• Richard Walzl (b. Stein, Austria 1843-44; d. Baltimore, MD 1899)
• John Waters (b. Baltimore 1946)
• William H. Weaver (b. Germany 1827; d. Maryland, 1913)
• H.C. White Co. (founded New York, NY 1870; Bennington, VT 1874 – 1936)
• Jesse Harrison Whitehurst (b. Virginia 1820; d. Baltimore, MD 1875)
• Barbara Young (b. Chicago, IL 1920; d. Baltimore, MD 2022)
• Grace Zaccardi (b. Ridgewood, NJ 1954)

Consider a membership in the BMA. …. BMA members receive a discount on tickets to my play, “Baltimore, You Have No Idea,” with new scenes, on stage at the Baltimore Museum of Art, Dec. 8-13. See what it’s all about on our updated website.