The MOMA - MUSEUM OF MODERN ART NEW YORK , continues to invest in photography. Carol Vogel , The New York Times highlights that MOMA was the first museum to have a formal photography department and provide a fabulous collection, which continues to grow .

MOMA this week announced two major acquisitions. On one side, 39 pictures of Richard Avedon . On the other, a lot of nearly 60 photographs of the nineteenth century.

Richard Avedon, self-portrait, 1980

Avedon's photographs, some purchased, some donated by the photographer's own foundation, established in 2004, long before his death, covering almost his entire career. There are portraits of Marilyn Monroe, Marcel Duchamp, Andy Warhol and the model Twiggy.

Also acquired were the nine photographs taken between 1969 and 1973, documenting the end of life of the father of the photographer, has exhibited at MOMA in 1974. Peter GALASSI, which remains the chief curator of photography at the Museum, said that long ago were willing to expand the collection of Avedon's photographs.

Photo: Gustave Le Gray

The old photographs of the nineteenth century, were bequeathed by Suzanne Winsberg, a collector who lived in NY and Paris and died in 2008. When the photography market began to take off in Paris in the '70s, she began her collection that includes 6 prints on paper Swim salty and a photo of the Fontainebleau forest by Gustave Le Gray, one of the photographers now more valued in the auctions, which works reach unimaginable amounts. According to Galassi, some of these works can not be achieved today, "neither for love nor for money."

The highlight of the collection began to be exposed now and stay until March 22, 2010. Worth the trip.

More details at Artdaily.org .