LACMA To Acquire Photo Collection

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art will purchase the Marjorie and Leonard Vernon Collection, a selection of more than 3,500 photographs from the 19th and 20th centuries, the museum announced Monday.

Highlights of the collection include photographs by Ansel Adams, Julia Margaret Cameron, Edward Steichen, W.H. Fox Talbot, and Edward Weston. An exhibition titled "A Story of Photography: The Marjorie and Leonard Vernon Collection," featuring works from the collection, will open October 5.

The purchase is possible because of a recent gift to the museum by Wallis Annenberg and the Annenberg Foundation, specifically intended for the support of photography.

The gift also initiates the creation of the Wallis Annenberg Department of Photography at LACMA, as well as a new study room in which visitors will be able to view the entire photography collection. The study room is scheduled to open in 2011.