One of the underlying principles of Bill Brandt: Shadow and Light, currently on view in MoMA’s third-floor Photography Galleries, is the importance of vintage prints to understanding Brandt’s oeuvre—and by vintage print I mean a photographic print that was made around the same time as its negative. Anyone who visits the exhibition will surely be impressed by the fine quality of prints (in addition to the arresting and often strange imagery). Dating and gathering these works, however, was no easy feat and proved to be one of my greatest learning experiences while working on the exhibition.
