Peter Galassi

Galassi graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1968. Galassi holds a B.A. in Visual and Environmental Studies from Harvard College (1972) and a Ph.D. in Art History and Archaeology from Columbia University (1986). ==Life and work==

Galassi started his career at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) as a Curatorial Intern (1974–1975), Associate Curator (1981–1986), and Curator (1986–1991) working with photography curator John Szarkowski. He was Chief Curator of Photography at MoMA from 1991 to 2011. After first organizing a Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibit in 1987 as a photography curator at MoMA, he organized a larger Cartier-Bresson exhibit as chief curator of MoMA in 2010. He was replaced as chief curator of photography at MoMA in December 2012 by Quentin Bajac, after retiring in 2011. ==Exhibitions curated by Galassi==

At Museum of Modern Art, New York • 1975: Picture Puzzles: Photographs by Man Ray, Frederick Sommer, Clarence John Laughlin, and Robert Cumming. • 1981: Before Photography: Painting and the Invention of Photography. • 1986: Rosalind Solomon: Ritual. • 1987: Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Early Work. • 1988: Nicholas Nixon: Pictures of People. • 1988: New Photography 4: Patrick Faigenbaum, Reagan Louie, and Michael Schmidt. • 1989: Walker Evans: American Photographs. • 1991: Projects: Stuart Klipper, On Antarctica 1989. • 1991: Pleasures and Terrors of Domestic Comfort. • 1992: More Than One Photography: Works since 1980 from the Collection. • 1992: The Photographs of Lucas Samaras: Selections from a Recent Gift. • 1992: New Photography 8: Dieter Appelt, Ellen Brooks, Darrel Ellis, Dennis Farber, Robert Flynt, Mary Miss, Gundula Schulze, Toshio Shibata. • 1993: Recent Acquisitions: Photography. • 1993: Philip-Lorca diCorcia: Strangers. • 1993: ''William Wegman's Cinderella.'' • 1994: Gesture and Pose: Twentieth-Century Photographs from the Collection. • 1994: Lee Friedlander: Letters from the People. • 1995: Recent Acquisitions: Photography. • 1995: Helen Chadwick: Bad Blooms. • 1995: American Photography 1890-1965 from The Museum of Modern Art, New York. • 1996: Michael Schmidt: U-NI-TY. Co-organized with Thomas Weski, Sprengel Museum Hannover, Germany. • 1996: Roy DeCarava: A Retrospective. • 1996: In the Light of Italy: Corot and Early Open-Air Painting. Co-organized with Philip Conisbee, Sarah Faunce, and Jeremy Strick. National Gallery of Art, Washington. • 1996: Pictures of the Times: A Century of Photography from The New York Times. Co-organized with Susan Kismaric. • 1997: Recent Acquisitions: American Photography. • 1997: From the Grace M. Mayer Collection. • 1997: Cindy Sherman: The Complete Untitled Film Stills • 1998: Garry Winogrand: Selections from a Major Acquisition. • 1998: Aleksandr Rodchenko. Co-organized with Magdalena Dabrowski and Leah Dickerman. • 2000: Graphic-Photographic. Co-organized with Christopher Mount. • 2000: Ideal Motif: Stieglitz, Weston, Adams, and Callahan. • 2000: The Rhetoric of Persuasion. Co-organized with Wendy Weitman. • 2000: Seeing Double. • 2001: Walker Evans & Company. • 2001: Andreas Gursky. • 2002: Life of the City. Co-organized with the curatorial staff of the Department of Photography and the organizers of Here is New York. • 2005: Friedlander. • 2006: Landscape: Recent Acquisitions. Co-organized with the curatorial staff of the Department of Photography. • 2007: Barry Frydlender: Place and Time. • 2007: Jeff Wall. • 2008: Bernd and Hilla Becher: Landscape/Typology. • 2010: Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Modern Century. At other institutions • 2015: Robert Frank in America, Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts, Stanford, CA. • 2015: In The Studio: Photographs, Gagosian Gallery, New York City. • 2015: Land Meets Water: European and American Photography from 1860 to the Present, Artipelag, Gustavsberg, Sweden. • 2018: Brassaï, Fundación MAPFRE Casa Garriga Nogués, Barcelona, Spain. ==Publications==

Books and exhibition catalogues • Before Photography: Painting and the Invention of Photography. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1981. . • Italian edition: ''Prima della fotografia: La pittura e l'invenzione della fotografia.'' Turin: Bollati Boringhieri Editori, 1989. • Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Early Work. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1987. • French edition: ''Henri Cartier-Bresson: Premières photos. De l'objectif hasardeux au hasard objectif.'' Paris: Arthaud, 1991. Trans. Pierre Leyris. • German edition: Henri Cartier-Bresson: Die frühen Photographien. Munich: Schirmer/Mosel, 2007. Trans. Rudolf Hermstein and Martina Tichy. • Nicholas Nixon: Pictures of People. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1988. • Corot in Italy: Open-Air Painting and the Classical-Landscape Tradition. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1991. • French edition: Corot en Italie: La peinture de plein air et la tradition classique. Paris: Éditions Gallimard, 1991. Trans. Jeanne Bouniort. • German edition: Corot in Italien: Freilichtmalerei und klassische Landschaftstradition. Munich: Hirmer Verlag, 1991. Trans. Annemarie Seling. • Italian edition: Corot in Italia: La pittura di plein air e la tradizione del paesaggio classico. Turin: Bollati Boringhieri Editori, 1994. Trans. Anna Bertolino. • Pleasures and Terrors of Domestic Comfort. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1991. • American Photography 1890-1965 from The Museum of Modern Art. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1995. • German edition: Amerikanische Photographie 1890-1965 aus der Sammlung desMuseum of Modern Art, New York. Munich: Schirmer/Mosel, 1995. Trans. Jörg Trobitius. • French edition: Photographie américaine de 1890 à 1965 à travers la collection du Museum of Modern Art, New York. Paris: Centre Georges Pompidou, 1995. Trans. Jeanne Bouniort. • Spanish edition: Fotografia americana 1890-1965 en The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Valencia: IVAM Centre Julio González, 1995. • Philip-Lorca diCorcia (Contemporaries: A Photography Series). New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1995. • Roy DeCarava: A Retrospective. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1996. . • Pictures of the Times: A Century of Photography from The New York Times. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1996. Edited by Peter Galassi and Susan Kismaric. • Aleksandr Rodchenko. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1998. By Magdalena Dabrowski, Leah Dickerman, and Peter Galassi. • Making Choices: 1929, 1939, 1948, 1955I. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2000. By Peter Galassi, Robert Storr, and Anne Umland. • Walker Evans & Company. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2000. . • Andreas Gursky. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2001. . • German edition: Andreas Gursky. Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2001. Trans. Hinrich von Haaren. • Spanish edition of text: Madrid: Museo Nacional Centro De Arte Reina Sofia, 2001. Trans. María Luisa Balseiro. • Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Man, the Image and the World. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd, 2003. . • Friedlander. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 2005. . With an essay by Richard Benson. • Barry Frydlender: Place and Time. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2007. . • Jeff Wall. New York: Museum of Modern Art; San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art 2007. . With an interview with Jeff Wall by James Rondeau. • Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Modern Century. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2010. . • French edititon: Henri Cartier-Bresson: un siècle modern. Paris: Éditions Hazan, 2010. Trans. Jean-François Allain. • German edition: Henri Cartier-Bresson: sein 20. Munich: Schirmer/Mosel, 2010. Trans. Ursula Wulfekamp and Matthias Wolf. • Italian edition: Henri Cartier-Bresson: il secolo modern. Rome:Contrasto, 2010. Trans. Maria Baiocchi. • Portuguese (Brazilian) edition: Henri Cartier-Bresson:o século moderno. São Paulo: Cosac Naify, 2010. Trans. Cid Knipel. • Spanish edition: Henri Cartier-Bresson: el siglo modern. Madrid: La Fabrica Editorial, 2010. Trans. Miguel Marqués,Tamara Gil Somoza, and Elena Sanjosé Román. • Richard Benson: North South East West. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2011. . • Ansel Adams in Yosemite Valley: Celebrating the Park at 150. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2014. . • Robert Frank in America. Göttingen: Steidl, Palo Alto: Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, 2014. . • French edition: Robert Frank en amérique. Göttingen: Steidl, 2015. Trans. Juliette Lê. • Spanish edition: Robert Frank en américa. Madrid: La Fábrica, 2016. • In the Studio: Photographs. New York: Phaidon, New York: Gagosian Gallery, 2015. • Brassaï. Madrid: Fundación MAPFRE, 2018. . With contributions by Stuart Alexander and Atonio Muñoz Molina. Books with contributions by Galassi • "Caillebotte's Method." In Gustave Caillebotte: A Retrospective Exhibition. Houston: The Museum of Fine Arts, 1976, pp. 192–206. • Reprinted with revisions in Gustave Caillebotte, by Kirk Varnedoe. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1987, pp. 27–40. • French edition: Gustave Caillebotte. Paris: Editions Adam Biro, 1988, pp. 27–40. • "Mark Klett: Present and Past in the American West." In Mark Klett, Traces of Eden: Travels in the Desert Southwest. Boston: David R. Godine, 1986, n.p. • "A Note on the Fiftieth-Anniversary Edition." In Walker Evans, American Photographs. Fiftieth-Anniversary Edition. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1988, pp. 200–02. • "La Photographie et l'inertie de la théorie artistique." In Les Multiples inventions de la photographie, by Pierre Bonhomme. Paris: Mission du Patrimonie photographique, 1989, pp. 126–32. • "The Nineteenth Century: Valenciennes to Corot." In Claude to Corot: The Development of Landscape Painting in France, by Alan Wintermute. New York: Colnaghi, Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1990, pp. 233–49. • "Postmodernism and Photography." In 1990 Photography Today Report. Tokyo: Tokyo Metropolitan Culture Foundation, 1991, pp. 65–66. Text in English and Japanese. • "A Tribute to J.A. Gere." In In the Light of Italy: Corot and Early Open-Air Painting. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996, pp. 23–27. • "Before Corot." In, Corot, un artiste et son temps. Actes des colloques organisés au musée du Louvre par le Service culturel les 1er et 2 mars à Paris et par l’Académie deFrance à Rome, villa Médicis, le 9 mars 1996 à Rome. by Chiara Stefani, Vincent Pomarède, and Gérard de Wallens. Paris: Klincksieck, 1998, pp. 397–422. • "Conserving Photography and Preserving the Vitality of our Culture." In Miguel Angel Corzo, Mortality Immortality?: The Legacy of 20th-Century Art. Los Angeles: The Getty Conservation Institute, 1999, pp. 81–84. • Untitled afterword. In Nicholas Nixon, The Brown Sisters. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1999, n.p. • "Natura Pictrix: Un entretien de Vik Muniz avec Peter Galassi." In Vik Muniz. Paris: Centre national de la Photographie, 1999, pp. 7–13. • Untitled introduction. In Lee Friedlander, Staglieno. Portland, Oregon: Nazraeli Press, 2002. • "And Everything in Between." In Philippe Arbaïzar, Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Man, the Image and the World: A Retrospective. London: Thames & Hudson, 2003. • "Rude and Crude: Cartier-Bresson at Julien Levy Gallery." In Documentary & Anti-Graphic Photographs by Cartier-Bresson, Walker Evans & Alvarez Bravo, by Agnès Sire. Paris: Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, Göttingen: Steidl, 2004, pp. 100–102. • Bilingual edition; French: Rustre et Frustre: Cartier-Bresson à la Galerie Julien Levy, pp. 97–99. • "Foreword and Acknowledgments." In Alexander N. Lavrentiev, Experiments for the Future: Diaries, Essays, Letters, and Other Writings. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2005, pp. 8–9. • "Introduction." In Mount St. Helens: Photographs by Frank Gohlke. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2005, pp. 8–9 • "A Tribute to Italo Zannier." In Fotologie: Scritti in onore di Italo Zannier, by Nico Stringa.Padova: il Poligrafo, 2006, pp. 29–30. • Untitled afterword. In Nicholas Nixon, The Brown Sisters: Thirty-Three Years. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2007, n.p. • Spanish edition: Nicholas Nixon, Las hermanas Brown 1975-2007. Trans. Mercedes Rivas. Madrid: Fundación MAPFRE in association with The Museum of Modern Art, New York, n.p. • "Preface." In Jeff Wall, Selected Essays and Interviews. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2007. p. 6. • "Introduction." In Mark Steinmetz, South Central. Portland, Oregon: Nazraeli Press, 2008, p. 5. • "Walker Evans und die Kunst des Faktischen." In Ortrud Westheider and Michael Philipp, New York Photography 1890-1950: Von Stieglitz bis Man Ray, by . München: Hirmer Verlag, Hamburg: Bucerius Kunst Forum, 2012, pp. 42–51. • "Like an actor on a screen, watching himself: An email conversation between Thomas Demand and Peter Galassi". In Susan van Wyk, Thomas Demand. Melbourne: National Gallery of Victoria International, 2012, pp. 72–74. • Untitled essay. In Nicholas Nixon, Close Far. Göttingen: Steidl, 2013, n.p. , Barral, 2013, n.p. • "William Wegman Discovers Photography." In Eurkea: William Wegman Photographs 1970-1975. New York: Craig F. Starr Gallery, 2013. • "I libri di Gianni Berengo Gardin." In Gianni Berengo Gardin, Il libro dei libri, by Bruno Carbone. Rome: Contrasto, 2014, pp. 7–13. • "A Fixed Point / En fast punkt." In Irving Penn: Timeless Moments. Stockholm: Åmells, 2014, pp. 7–9 (English) and 11–13 (Swedish). • "I Marziani di Mantegazza / Mantegazza's Martians." In Jacoppo Moggi Cecchi and Roscoe Stanyon, Il Museo di Storia Naturale dell’Università degli Studi di Firenze, vol. V, Le Collezioni antropologiche ed etnologiche. Firenze: University Press, 2014, pp. 224–25. Italian and English. • "Les Anonymes de Pierre de Fenoÿl, un nouveau regard." In Virginie Chardin, Pierre de Fenoÿl: une géographie imaginaire. Paris: Éditions Xavier Barral, 2015, pp. 224–29. • "Surrendering to the Picture." In Lee Friedlander & Pierre Bonnard: Photographs & Drawings, Göttingen: Steidl, New York: Pace/MacGill Gallery, Cologne: Galerie Thomas Zander, 2015, pp. 6–11. • "La rupture esthétique d’Eugène Atget." In Les Silences d’Atget: Une anthologie de texts, by Luce Lebart. Paris: Éditions Textuel, 2016, pp. 233–36. • "Faire collection: une enquête." In Clément Chéroux and Karolina Ziebinska-Lewandowska, The Pencil of Culture: 10 ans d’acquisitions de photographies au Centre Pompidou. Paris: Centre Pompidou and Filigranes Éditions, 2016, pp. 146–76. • "Afterword." In Tina Barney. New York: Rizzoli, 2017, pp. 218–26. • "Afterword." In Lee Friedlander. The American Monument. New York: Eakins Press Foundation, 2017, n.p. • Untitled essay. In Sheron Rupp, Taken from Memory. Berlin: Kehrer Heidelberg, 2019, p. 105. ==Awards==

• 1988: Infinity Award, International Center of Photography Award for Writing in Photography, New York, (for Cartier-Bresson: The Early Work). • 1999: International Award of Photography, Centro di Ricerca e Archiviazione della Fotografia, Spilembergo, Italy. • 2010: Lucie Awards – Exhibition of the Year: Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Modern Century. • 2012: Guggenheim Fellowship. ==References==