The International Center of Photography (ICP) is a photography museum and school on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. ICP's photographic collection, reading room, and archives are at Mana Contemporary in Jersey City, New Jersey. The organization was founded by Cornell Capa in 1974.
ICP is the host of the Infinity Awards, inaugurated in 1985 "to bring public attention to outstanding achievements in photography by honoring individuals with distinguished careers in the field and by identifying future luminaries."
Contents
History
Since its founding in 1974 by Cornell Capa with help from Micha Bar-Am in Willard Straight House, on Fifth Avenue's Museum Mile, ICP has presented over 500 exhibitions, bringing the work of more than 3,000 photographers and other artists to the public in one-person and group exhibitions and provided various classes and workshops for students.
Founding & Fist Home
ICP was founded to keep the legacy of "Concerned Photography" alive. After the untimely deaths of his brother Robert Capa and his colleagues Werner Bischof, Chim (David Seymour), and Dan Weiner in the 1950s, Capa saw the need to keep their humanitarian documentary work in the public eye. In 1966 he founded the International Fund for Concerned Photography.
By 1974 the Audubon Society had outgrown its Delano & Aldrich-designed neo-Georgian mansion at 94th Street, in the Carnegie Hill section of the Upper East Side and sold to another nonprofit organization. The International Center of Photography was created and moved into the Willard D. Straight House at 1130 Fifth Avenue.
In 1985, a satellite facility, ICP Midtown, was created. Plans were also made for redesigning and reconstructing the Midtown location.
Movement and Redesign
In 2000, ICP sold the Fifth Avenue headquarters for $17.5 million to hedge fund founder Bruce Kovner who returned it to use as a private residence after 48 years as a nonprofit headquarters.
The expanded galleries at 1133 Sixth Avenue at 43rd Street were designed by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects for the display of photography and new media. The reopening in the fall of 2000 of the 17,000-square-foot (1,600 m2) site, previously used as a photo gallery for Kodak, provided in one location the same amount of gallery space as the two previous sites combined and became the headquarters of ICP's public exhibitions programs, and also housed an expanded store and a café.
The expansion of the school of the International Center of Photography in the fall of 2001 created a Midtown campus diagonally across from the museum in the Grace Building at 1114 Sixth Avenue. Designed by the architecture firm Gensler, the 27,000-square-foot (2,500 m2) school facility doubled ICP's teaching space and allowed ICP to expand both its programming and community outreach.
Move to the Lower East Side
In 2014, ICP's board approved a plan to buy a building on the Bowery near the New Museum and relocate there. The center's school remained in Midtown, but was expected to eventually move downtown when the lease ended. The midtown museum closed on 11 January 2015, when its lease ended. The ICP museum at 250 Bowery opened on 23 June 2016. In 2017, ICP signed a deal with Delancey Street Associates to house its museum and school at Essex Crossing on the Lower East Side. In 2019, ICP sold its space at 250 Bowery and purchased its new home at 79 Essex Street at Essex Crossing.
In January 2020, ICP opened its new integrated center at 79 Essex Street with the main entrance at 84 Ludlow Street. Designed by architecture firm Gensler, the 40,000 sq ft (3,700 m2) building has two entrances, galleries, media labs, classrooms, darkrooms, shooting studios, a shop, café, research library and public event spaces. The new space is the cultural anchor of the $1.9 billion six-acre Essex Crossing development.
ICP's School
ICP's school serves more than 3,500 students each year, offering courses in a curriculum that ranges from darkroom classes to certificate and master's degree programs. Other educational programming includes a lecture series, seminars, symposia, and workshops hosted by professional photographers.
Opened in 2001, the School was previously at a 27,000-square-foot (2,500 m2) facility at 1114 Sixth Avenue. Designed by Gensler, it was across the street from the former ICP Museum. ICP's school and museum are now located in a unified center on Manhattan's Lower East Side at 84 Ludlow Street.
The school offers a year-round selection of continuing education classes; two one-year Certificate programs on-site (Creative Practices in Photography, Documentary Practice and Visual Journalism); and three one-year Certificate programs online (Documentary Practice: Visual Storytelling Online, Writing and the Photographic Image, and Curatorial Practices in Photography).
Public programs
Public programs at ICP address issues in photography and its relationship to art, culture, and society and promote the interpretation of ICP's exhibitions and collections. The Naomi Rosenblum ICP Talks lecture series invites photographers to present their work while sharing ideas and concerns about the medium. Other seminars, symposia, and panel discussions feature artists, critics, scholars, and historians.
Community programs
Community programs relate to the exhibitions. Programs include interactive tours, family day events, workshops, long-term photography programs in four New York City public schools, summer photography programs in community centers, and a high school internship program designed to promote youth leadership.
Infinity Awards
The ICP hosts the Infinity Awards, which were inaugurated in 1985 "to bring public attention to outstanding achievements in photography by honoring individuals with distinguished careers in the field and by identifying future luminaries".
Winners
In 2000, the Cornell Capa Award was introduced, which later merged with the Lifetime Achievement award into the Cornell Capa Lifetime Achievement, later renamed back to Lifetime Achievement.
Permanent collection
The permanent collection at ICP contains more than 200,000 photographs and related materials from the earliest forms of photography to contemporary work. Since its opening in 1974, ICP has acquired important historical and contemporary images through an acquisitions committee and through donations and bequests from photographers and collectors. The collection spans the history of photography, including daguerrotypes, gelatin silver and digital chromogenic prints.
The collection is strongest in its holdings of American and European documentary photography of the 1930s to the 1990s. It comprises large bodies of work by W. Eugene Smith, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, the Farm Security Administration photographers, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Lisette Model, Gordon Parks, James VanDerZee, Louise Ozelle Martin, and Garry Winogrand. More recent purchases have included work by contemporary photographers such as Carrie Mae Weems, Justine Kurland, Katy Grannan, Vik Muniz, and Susan Meiselas.
Another component of the collection is a significant group of photographically illustrated magazines, particularly those published between World War I and II, such as Vu, Regards, Picture Post, Lilliput, Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung, Arbeiter-Illustrierte-Zeitung, and Life.
Opened in 2015, the International Center of Photography at Mana Contemporary is a 15,000-square-foot space that houses the permanent collection, a media lab, areas for research, and a gallery.
Publications
In 2003 the ICP joined with the publisher Steidl of Göttingen, Germany to launch the photography imprint ICP/Steidl.
ICP/Steidl publications
"Strangers: The First ICP Triennial of Photography and Video." 2003.
Young America: The Daguerreotypes of Southworth and Hawes. 2005. Edited by Grant Romer and Brian Wallis. OCLC 60805129. Received New England Historical Society's Best Book of the Year and Kraszna-Krausz Book Award's Honorable Mention.
"Ecotopia: The Second ICP Triennial of Photography and Video." 2006
Atta Kim: On Air. 2006. By Atta Kim. Received the Deutsche Börse Prize: Best Photo Book of the Year.
Unknown Weegee. 2006. By Weegee. Received College Art Association Best Book Design, Honorable Mention.
Snap Judgments: New Positions in Contemporary African Photography. 2006. Edited by Okwui Enwezor. Received the PHotoEspaña: Best International Photography Book of the Year.
Susan Meiselas: In History. 2008. Received the Rencontres d’Arles 2009 Historical Book Award.
The Mexican Suitcase: The Rediscovered Spanish Civil War Negatives of Capa, Chim, and Taro. 2010. Received the AAM's Frances Smyth-Ravenel Prize for Excellence in Publication Design and the German Photobook 2011 Prize's Gold Award.
Other ICP publications
Reflections in a Glass Eye. ICP/Little, Brown, 1999. Edited by Ellen Handy.
"A Different Kind of Order: The ICP Triennial" New York: ICP/Delmonico Books Prestel, 2013.
Roman Vishniac Rediscovered. New York: ICP/Delmonico Books Prestel, 2015. Edited by Maya Benton.
DVD
The Decisive Moment (2007) by Henri Cartier-Bresson.
ICP's Library
The Library of the International Center of Photography serves more than 6,000 visitors a year. The information and bibliographic resources it provides are used by ICP staff, patrons, and researchers. As of 2008, the Library receives 75 periodicals and serials, and its collection of approximately 20,000 volumes and 2,000 files is available for on-site perusal.
The GEH–ICP Alliance
In 2000, George Eastman House (GEH) and ICP launched the GEH–ICP Alliance, whose fundamental aim is to enhance public understanding and appreciation of photography, through exhibitions, publications, research, scholarship, collection sharing, and the joint website Photomuse.org.