Responsibility to Reveal: 30 Years of The Knight Purchase Award for Photographic Media

Celebrate the Akron Art Museum’s steadfast commitment to art photography through this exhibition surveying the history of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Purchase Award for Photographic Media.

In 1991, the Akron Art Museum purchased six black-and-white photographs by Harry Callahan. This was the first in a series of acquisitions made possible by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Purchase Award for Photographic Media, which was established in 1990 through a generous gift from the Knight Foundation. The award, which publicly recognizes artists’ achievements and funds the Museum’s purchase of their work, is given roughly once a year to a living artist working with photographic media. Responsibility to Reveal will survey the twenty-two artists recognized with the Knight Purchase Award thus far. Collectively, they cover an expansive range of perspectives and subject matter, representing the very best of photographic creativity over the past thirty years.