Photography as Fine Art

This historical survey of art photography presents over 175 reproductions of classic and contemporary photographs, including work by Steichen, Stieglitz, Weston, Cartier-Bresson, Man Ray and Penn. Its stated purpose is the acceptance of photography as fine art, a point about which the photographic community can never seem to say enough. One wonders why insecurity expressed here exists about a collection marked by such talent, sensitivity and imagination. Indeed, Davis's introduction ends on a note of eye-rolling pomposty (""photography is finer than art''). Still, he admirably traces the medium's early development and its earliest polemicists and practitioners. (April)