Robert
C. May Bequest
Meatyard: Untitled
The
University of Kentucky Art Museum's noteworthy photography collection, which
contains works by such photographers as Edward Steichen, Ralph Eugene Meatyard,
Garry Winogrand, Eugène Atget, Jan Groover, Cindy Sherman, Paul Caponigro,
and Aaron Siskind, was decidedly enriched by the 1993 Robert C. May Bequest,
which added important photographs by internationally-prominent photographers,
such as Ansel Adams, Brassaï, Paul Strand, Berenice Abbott, John Pfahl,
and Robert Frank, in addition to May's archive of more than 800 of his own
photographs. Of special note are the collection's concentrations of work by
Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Van Deren Coke, and an important archive of over 500
photographs by Doris Ulmann. The Robert C. May Photography Endowment Fund
supports the purchase of works by, according to the wishes of the donor, "photographers
known on a national level." Recent acquisitions have included: works
by Farm Security Administration photographers Marion Post Wolcott and Arthur
Rothstein; examples of "street photography" by Helen Levitt, Louis
Faurer, Max Yavno, and Weegee; diaristic works by Danny Lyon, and Larry Clark;
vintage modernist works by Harry Callahan, Harold Edgerton, and Arthur Siegel;
and works by contemporary photographers Lynn Geesaman, Lauren Greenfield,
Keith Carter, Robert ParkeHarrison, and Peter Brown.
