Additional Info

The Museum of Photographic Arts reviews photographer’s portfolios on a regular basis. It is a vital part of our mission to be engaged in conversation with working artists.

1) Send your website address to Carol McCusker, Curator of Photography, mccusker@mopa.org

2) Upon review of your site, you will receive an email inviting you to send further material such as CDs, DVDs, printed materials, etc.

3) When submitting work by mail, please include return postage. Submissions sent without return postage are considered property of the museum, and will be held or disposed at will. All materials should be sent to:

Carol McCusker, Curator of Photography
Museum of Photographic Arts
1649 El Prado
San Diego, CA 92101

5) Should your work be of interest to MoPA, or if we wish to retain your materials for future reference, you will be notified by email or regular mail.

The Museum of Photographic Arts Traveling Exhibition Program is an integral and proud part of our institution. Since 1986 we have sent numerous exhibitions, from the finest photographic artists, to premier museums around the world. Exhibitions such as Arnold Newman: Five Decades, Revelaciones: The Art of Manuel Alvarez Bravo, The Duane Michals Show, Camera as Weapon: Worker Photography Between the Wars, Los Vecinos: The Neighbors, Points of Entry (a three part series of shows about immigration to America), Abelardo Morell and The Camera Eye, The Model Wife, First Photographs: William Henry Fox Talbot and the Birth of Photography and others have represented our institution worldwide. The shows have been exhibited at The Chicago Art Institute, The Smithsonian, Ellis Island Museum, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Minneapolis Institute of the Arts, and other American museums. They have also been seen in Tokyo, Barcelona, Paris, London, Oxford, Amsterdam, Lausanne, and other international destinations, including ten cities in Mexico.

These exhibitions offer our museum an opportunity to display our own collections, ideas and research while providing the availability for interesting artists to be seen in other venues.

2003-2004 Touring Exhibitions

Photographers, Writers, and the American Scene: Visions of Passage (Touring through August, 2004)

Wanderers, Travelers and Adventurers: Images of Exploration from the Permanent Collection of the Museum of Photographic Arts
(Toured 09/03 - 03/04)
This exhibition was curated by MoPA Director Arthur Ollman and traveled to Mumm Napa in Napa Valley. The exhibition highlights survey and travel photography from the history of photography.

2002 Touring Exhibitions

Abelardo Morell and the Camera Eye (Toured from 11/98 – 2/02)
After leaving San Diego, the exhibition was shown at 8 museums in cities from Boston to Albuquerque. (Venues are listed under Touring, 2001)

First Photographs: William Henry Fox Talbot and the Birth of Photography
(Toured from 12/02 - 2/03) Traveled to the International Center of Photography in New York. The exhibition was organized by MoPA in conjunction with the Fox Talbot Museum and curated by Arthur Ollman (MoPA), Michael Gray (Fox Talbot), and Carol McCusker (MoPA). The exhibition examines the life and work of William Henry Fox Talbot, inventor of the positive negative photographic process.

2001 Touring Exhibitions

The Model Wife (10/22/00 – 1/21/01)
Organized by MoPA, curated by Arthur Ollman, MoPA, begins a tour to the following venues: The Art Institute, Chicago, Illinois (2/6/01), Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Ohio (5/27/01).

Abelardo Morell and the Camera Eye (11/15/98 – 2/3/02)
Organized by MoPA, curated by Diana Gaston, MoPA, in collaboration with the artist, continues its tour during this period to the following venues:
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2/16 – 4/11/99)
Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick (9/19 – 12/12/99)
The Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis (2/1 – 4/16/00)
Lehigh University Art Galleries/Museum Operation, Bethlehem, PA (6/21 – 8/13/00)
University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque (10/17 – 12/10/00)
Bayly Art Museum, University of Virginia, Charlottesville (1/26 – 3/25/01)
Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit (4/12 – 7/22/01)
George Eastman House, Rochester (9/29/01 – 2/3/02).

Lou Stoumen, Woman for Hire, Puerto Rico, 1941, gelatin silver print, The Museum of Photographic Arts

Lou Stoumen was a photographer, filmmaker, writer and teacher. He taught several decades for the UCLA film program, and won two Academy Awards for documentary films. He produced a number of excellent photography books, filled with his wonderful images as well as his sensitive and perceptive prose. His vision was humanitarian and filled with the sense that our world would be a far better place if we all behaved in a more just and giving manner. In particular, Stoumen was known for the 40 years of images he photographed throughout New York's Times Square.

After he died in September of 1991, his entire collection of papers, many of his photographs, the rights to his films and his home, were given to the Museum of Photographic Arts. The home, in Sebastapol, California was sold to create the Lou Stoumen Fund. The interest would provide a substantial grant to a deserving mid-career photographer every two or three years. To date, the Lou Stoumen Award has been presented to Debbie Fleming Caffrey, Kenro Izu and James Nachtwey. The Stoumen Archive is available for study to students of photography or film in the Museum of Photographic Arts Library. MoPA is honored by the long-term trust Stoumen vested in the museum. A traveling exhibition of his work is available for loan to accredited museums worldwide. Contact the curatorial department or the library for information and a prospectus.

Yosuke Yamahata (Japanese 1917 – 1966), Untitled. Nagasaki Bridge, August 10, 1945, gelatin silver print, collection MoPA. Shogo Yamahat and courtesy the Independent Documentary Group.

The collection of photographs by Yosuke Yahata taken on August 10, 1945 is the most comprehensive record of the effects of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki. Taken in one day, the photographs record the aftermath of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, the survivors, and the victims. Nagasaki Journey opened in three cities simultaneously in the summer of 1995 to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

The three archives were eventually donated to a museum in Nagasaki, a peace museum in Chicago, and the third archive is now a part of the Museum of Photographic Arts’ permanent collection. MoPA’s exhibition of Nagasaki Journey highlights only a part of the archive, which consists of over one hundred photographs and supplementary materials. As part of MoPA’s permanent collection, the archive will eventually be available for exhibition, research, and viewing. Contact the curatorial department or the library for information and a prospectus.