The Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA) had plenty to celebrate on Australia day with the launch of the exhibition “Picturing New York: Photographs from The Museum of Modern Art,” the second exhibition in their Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) series.

Depicting the iconic New York that captivates the world’s imagination and the idiosyncratic details that define New Yorkers’ sense of home, this exhibition from MoMA’s extraordinary photography collection celebrates the city in all its vitality, ambition and beauty.

“This exhibition tells the story of how New York City and Photography became modern together over the course of the twentieth century,” said Sarah Meister, Curator from the Department of Photography, MoMA. “It seems particularly fitting that this exhibition travel to Perth, literally half-way around the world, to test one of its central premises: how photography has played a critical role in developing an image of New York City in the imagination of the world.”

Over 150 works are included in the exhibition from approximately 90 artists including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Walker Evans, Lewis Hine, Helen Levitt, Cindy Sherman, Alfred Stieglitz, and Weegee. The extensive survey is both a documentation of photography’s evolution throughout the twentieth century and an exploration of the life of New York as seen through the eyes of artists responding to the city as well as by professionals on assignment.

“The exhibition presents a fascinating look at the city of New York through a time of great change for both the city itself and the art form of photography,” said Culture and the Arts Minister John Day. “This is a rare opportunity for visitors to see not only famous photographs by some of the world’s most legendary photographers, but to also witness equally impressive works from lesser-known artists.

The MoMA series is an exciting collaboration between the Art Gallery of WA (AGWA) and the renowned Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York. The partnership is an Australian exclusive for AGWA and was developed through AGWA’s Director, Stefano Carboni’s strong New York connections.