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Lucas Samaras' Adjustment, January 22, 1986, a grid of smaller photographs come together like square puzzle pieces revealing the larger image of a man sitting next to his stove facing left. Pots, pans, and utensils hang on the wall behind him. To the left of the stove is a sink and counter top cluttered with jars and bottles with images of faces.

Image: Lucas Samaras (American, b. 1936), Adjustment, January 22, 1986, 1986, dye diffusion print collage (Polaroid Polacolor ER), Bequest of Carl M. Jacobs III, 2009.269. © Lucas Samaras

Abel Fletcher's The Greek Slave of Hiram Powers, an old sepia toned photograph of the front view of a marble statue of a nude woman wearing hand cuffs, her turned towards her right, and resting her left hand on a short post covered in cloth

Image: Abel Fletcher (American, 1820–1890), The Greek Slave of Hiram Powers (Frontal View), 1848–1851, daguerreotype, Gift of the Fleischmann Foundation in Memory of Julius Fleischmann, 1998.162

Abel Fletcher's The Greek Slave of Hiram Powers, an old sepia toned photograph of the rear view of the marble statue.

Image: Abel Fletcher (American, 1820–1890), The Greek Slave of Hiram Powers (Rear View), 1848–1851, daguerreotype, Gift of the Fleischmann Foundation in Memory of Julius Fleischmann, 1998.173

Zanele Muholi's HeVi, a dark toned black and white photograph of a black woman with a large afro gazing at the viewer in front of a hazy wall of leaves

Image: Zanele Muholi (South African, b. 1972), HeVi, Oslo, from the series Hail the Dark Lioness (Somnyama Ngonyama), 2016, gelatin silver print, Museum Purchase: Carl Jacobs Foundation, 2017.71. © Zanele Muholi

Clarence John Laughlin's Untitled (Background Cut-Out), several black and white prints super imposed onto one another with the backgrounds cut out so that you can see through to the photo underneath

Image: Clarence John Laughlin (American, 1905–1985), Untitled (Background Cut-Out), 1940s, gelatin silver print collage, Bequest of Carl M. Jacobs III, 2009.264. © The Clarence John Laughlin Archive at The Historic New Orleans Collection

Berenice Abbott's El, Second and Third Avenue Lines, Bowery and Division Street, Manhattan, a sepia toned photograph of a New York City street beneath an iron train line. Pedestrians walk about the sidewalks past rows of store fronts and a parked car in the distance

Image: Berenice Abbott (American, 1898–1991), “El,” Second and Third Avenue Lines, Bowery and Division Street, Manhattan, from the series Changing New York, April 24, 1936, gelatin silver print, Bequest of Carl M. Jacobs III, 2009.147

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January 23–March 25, 2018 | Gallery 212

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Photography is very good at making multiples. The capacity to produce many images and many copies of a given picture has raised doubts about photography’s status as a fine art medium throughout its history. Yet photographers of all kinds use series, sequence, combination, repetition and reproduction as potent artistic tools.

Drawn from the Museum’s rich photography collection, Multiple Medium presents rarely-seen treasures and recent acquisitions that illustrate and raise questions about the medium’s relationship with numerousness.