Slide show - The Life and Death of Buildings

Images from the Art Museum's new exhibition

Charles Clifford, British, ca. 1819–1863: Burgos Cathedral, Façade, 1853. Albumen print from waxed paper negative, 41.9 x 30.5 cm. Princeton University Art Museum Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund (2010 125). Photo: Bruce M. White.

On view through Nov. 6 at the Princeton University Art Museum, the exhibition “The Life and Death of Buildings” includes 130 photographs of buildings from around the world, spanning the history of photography beginning in the 1840s. Conceived as an “oblique” meditation on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, the exhibition examines the relationship between architecture, photography, and time.

Unknown photographers, American: Homesteaders with claim shacks, ca. 1907–25, detail. 36 gelatin silver prints on postcard paper, each: 8.8 x 13.8 cm. Collection of Michael Williams. Image courtesy Michael Williams.

Thomas Ruff, German, born 1958: jpeg co01, 2004. Chromogenic print, 267.3 x 184.7 x 6 cm. Private collection. © 2011, Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY / VG Bild Kunst / image courtesy the artist.

Lewis W. Hine, American, 1874–1940: Laying a Great Beam on the Empire State Building, 1930. Gelatin silver print, 34.3 x 24.6 cm. Princeton University Art Museum, anonymous gift (x1973 41). Photo: Bruce M. White.

Danny Lyon, American, born 1942; printed by Chuck Kelton: Dropping a wall, from the series The Destruction of Lower Manhattan, 1967, printed 2007. Gelatin silver print, 31 x 20.8 cm. Princeton University Art Museum, gift of M. Robin Krasny, Class of 1973 (2009 150.60). © 1967, Danny Lyon / Magnum / photo: Bruce M. White.

Julian Faulhaber, German, born 1975: Ceiling, 2006. Lambda print mounted on DiBol, 152.4 x 119.4 cm. Princeton University Art Museum, promised gift of Philip F. Maritz, Class of 1983. © Julian Faulhaber /VG Bildkunst Bonn / image courtesy the artist.

Andrew Moore, American, born 1957. Model T Headquarters, Highland Park, from the series Detroit, 2009. Digital inkjet print, 91.4 x 115.6 cm. Princeton University Art Museum, gift of the artist, Class of 1979, in honor of Emmet Gowin (2009 115). © 2009, Andrew Moore / image courtesy the artist.

Emmet Gowin, American, born 1941: Tomb Fragments, the Outer Siq, Petra, Jordan, 1983, printed 1985. Toned gelatin silver print, 19 x 24.1 cm. Collection of Richard and Ronay Menschel. © 1983, Emmet Gowin / photo: Bruce M. White.

Peter Hujar, American, 1934–1987: The World Trade Center, Twilight, 1976. Gelatin silver print, 37.5 x 37.5 cm. Collection of Richard and Ronay Menschel. © 1987, The Peter Hujar Archive LLC. Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery NY / photo: Bruce M. White.