The international collection

LOOK OUTSIDE
YOUR OWN FRAME.

Eight photographs to spend time with. Different places, different methods, and rather more to discuss than which lens was sharpest.

A narrow cobbled Paris street in deep foreground shadow opens towards a sunlit church tower, with shop signs projecting into the view.

France / 1898

Eugène Atget

Rue de la Montagne-Sainte-Geneviève

Look at the work ↗

Two crowded decks of an ocean liner are divided by a bright diagonal gangway and curved chain railings, reproduced with the print and its pale mount.

United States / 1907

Alfred Stieglitz

The Steerage

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Julia Jackson looks directly towards the camera; one side of her face emerges from deep brown shadow and her loose hair fades into the background.

United Kingdom / 1867

Julia Margaret Cameron

Julia Jackson

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Leafless trees along a pond are reflected upside down in still water, forming a dense web of dark trunks and branches.

United Kingdom / 1841–42

William Henry Fox Talbot

Winter Trees Reflected in a Pond

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A softly lit bust-length portrait of Honoré Willsie Morrow, wearing a light blouse and looking towards the camera, sits within a large pale paper mount.

United States / c. 1917

Gertrude Käsebier

Portrait of Honoré Willsie Morrow

Look at the work ↗

Pale branching algae lie against a deep blue cyanotype page, with a handwritten botanical label beneath them and the edge of the bound volume visible.

United Kingdom / ca. 1853

Anna Atkins

Polysiphonia Brodiæi

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A rocky, planted shoreline curves towards a small distant structure beside calm water, with trees on the left and a broad pale sky.

India / 1880–90

Lala Deen Dayal

Sookh-Vilas Palace Garden

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A posed amazake seller stands before a plain studio backdrop, carrying two red boxes suspended from a pole across his shoulder; the photograph is hand-coloured.

Japan / 1870s–1890s

A growing international selection, not a league table or a complete history. We begin with works available through explicit open-access records. Original process tones, cyanotype blue and hand-colouring are retained: the object’s appearance is part of its history.

The conversation carries on

Take a video class ↗

Contemporary and later voices, through their own words and official films. A different way to meet the work while keeping its authorship clear.

Graciela Iturbide – 'I Take Photos of What Surprises Me' | TateShots

Watch how surprise and time with people sit together. Return to one familiar place, have a conversation if welcome, and make one picture whose meaning depends on what you learned.

Zanele Muholi – ‘In My World, Every Human is Beautiful’ | Tate

Notice who is being represented and who has a voice in that representation. With a willing participant, agree how a portrait will be used, make it together, and let them respond to your selection.

Rinko Kawauchi contemplates the small mysteries of life

Look for a small ordinary detail that becomes strange through attention. Make a quiet three-picture sequence near home, connected by a shape or gesture rather than by identical subjects.

LOOK OUTSIDEYOUR OWN FRAME.

The conversation carries on

Graciela Iturbide – 'I Take Photos of What Surprises Me' | TateShots

Zanele Muholi – ‘In My World, Every Human is Beautiful’ | Tate

Rinko Kawauchi contemplates the small mysteries of life

LOOK OUTSIDE
YOUR OWN FRAME.