This is a unique survey of photography from its origins until now. From a delivery boy to one of the most important industrialists in American history George Eastman's career developed in a particularly American way. The founder of Kodak died in 1932 & left his house to the University of Rochester. Since 1949 the site has operated as an international museum of photography & film & today holds the largest collection of its kind in the world. The continually expanding photography collection contains over 400 000 images & negatives
- among them the work of Alfred Stieglitz Edward Steichen Ansel Adams & others
- as well as 23 000 cinema films five million film stills one of the most important silent film collections technical equipment & a library with 40 000 books on photography & film. The George Eastman House is a pilgrimage site & a place of worship for researchers photographers & collectors from all over the world. This volume shows in chronological order the most impressive images & the most important developments in the art of light that is photography. It provides in its huge collection & themes a unique survey of the medium from its origins until now.