Group show
The New Woman Behind the Camera
2 Jul 2021 — 3 Oct 2021 at Metropolitan Museum of Art
· New York City
The New Woman Behind the Camera was a landmark 2021 exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. It brought together the work of trailblazing women photographers who, from the 1920s onward, challenged social conventions and reshaped the boundaries of photography as an art form.
The show explored how these women — working across portraiture, photojournalism, fashion, and documentary — carved out professional identities at a time when the field was largely dominated by men. Their images captured modernity, politics, and everyday life with a distinctive and often radical vision.
Spanning continents and cultures, the exhibition highlighted both celebrated names and lesser-known figures, offering a rich and overdue reassessment of women's central role in the history of photography.
The show explored how these women — working across portraiture, photojournalism, fashion, and documentary — carved out professional identities at a time when the field was largely dominated by men. Their images captured modernity, politics, and everyday life with a distinctive and often radical vision.
Spanning continents and cultures, the exhibition highlighted both celebrated names and lesser-known figures, offering a rich and overdue reassessment of women's central role in the history of photography.
About the venue
Metropolitan Museum of Art
· New York City
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the fourth-largest museum in the world and the largest art museum in the Americas. With 5,727,258 visitors in fiscal year 2025, it was the most-visited museum in…
