List of photographs considered the most important

This is a list of photographs considered the most important in surveys where authoritative sources review the history of the medium not limited by time period, region, genre, topic, or other specific criteria. These images may be referred to as the most important, most iconic, or most influential—but they are all considered key images in the history of photography.

19th century

Before 1850
  • Original
    Original
  • Enhanced
    Enhanced
  • Original paper negative
    Original paper negative
  • Enhanced positive
    Enhanced positive
  • Original
    Original
  • Enhanced
    Enhanced

1850s
  • Nadar, The Mime Charles Debureau as Pierrot, 1854[s 1]

1860s

1870s

1880s

1890s

20th century

1900s

1910s

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

21st century

2000s

2010s

2020s
  • Tayfun Coskun, Capitol Under Attack, 2021[s 3]
The last American soldier, Chris Donahue, leaving Afghanistan after the War in Afghanistan

See also

Notes
  1. Talbot's 1835 photograph has also been referred to as Lacock Oriel Window (Latticed Window)[s 1] or simply Latticed Window.[2]
  2. The Metropolitan Museum of Art dates their copy of Talbot's Haystack as "probably 1841".[6] The National Gallery of Canada dates it to April 1844.[7]
  3. Gustave Le Grey's The Brig is also referred to as Brig on the Water[8][9] and The Brig in Moonlight.[10]
  4. Robert Howlett's image is referred to as Isambard Kingdom Brunel before the Launch of the Leviathan in The Oxford Companion to the Photograph.
  5. Alexander Gardener's 1862 The Dead of Antietam is also referred to as Civil War Battlefield or Bodies on the battlefield at Antietam.
  6. The collection item for the Library of Congress gives a much longer title that includes commentary from the photographer: A little spinner in the Mollahan Mills, Newberry, S.C. She was tending her "sides" like a veteran, but after I took the photo, the overseer came up and said in an apologetic tone that was pathetic, "She just happened in." Then a moment later he repeated the information. The mills appear to be full of youngsters that "just happened in," or " are helping sister." Dec. 3, 08. Witness Sara R. Hine. Location: Newberry, South Carolina.[13]
  7. Also referred to as Abstraction, Porch Shadows, Connecticut and Abstraction, Shadows of a Veranda, Connecticut.
  8. Also dated to 1913 and 1915.
  9. Huynh Cong "Nick" Ut's 1972 Napalm attack is also referred to as The Terror of War, Phan Thị Kim Phúc, or Vietnam children after napalm attack.

Sources

These surveys of the history of photography determine which images are included in the list.

  1. "Chronology". Oxford Companion to the Photograph. Oxford University Press. 2005. ISBN 978-0-19-866271-6. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  2. "100 Photographs | The Most Influential Images of All Time". Time. Archived from the original on 19 February 2020. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  3. "The 100 Most Important Photos Ever". Life. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  4. "What Was the Most Influential Photograph in History?". The Atlantic. 9 December 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  5. "25 of the most iconic photographs". CNN. September 2013. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  6. Griffin, Elizabeth (28 March 2016). "50 of the World's Most Remarkable Photographs". Esquire. Retrieved 21 February 2020.

Additional references
  1. "100 Photographs that Changed the World". The Digital Journalist. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  2. Clarke, Graham (8 May 1997). The Photograph. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press. p. 16. ISBN 978-0-19-284200-8.
  3. "[The Oriel Window, South Gallery, Lacock Abbey]". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
  4. "Windows From Inside South Gallery, Lacock Abbey. 1937-361. Science Museum Group Collection Online". Science Museum Group. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  5. Dhaliwal, Ranjit. "The birth of the daguerrotype – picture of the day". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
  6. "William Henry Fox Talbot | The Haystack". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  7. "Brig on the Water". Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  8. "Brig on the Water". Princeton University Art Museum. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  9. "Gustave Le Gray, The Brig". Musée d'Orsay. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  10. In fact, the oldest aerial photo was taken by Nadar in 1858 and showed a panorama of Paris, but it has not survived to our times. Nadar's other surviving photograph of Paris dates from 1866. Walles' photo shows Boston.
  11. Arikoglu, Lale (5 November 2015). "Who Were They? The Truth Behind Stieglitz's Iconic Photograph 'The Steerage' Revealed". Observer. Archived from the original on 11 February 2017.
  12. "A little spinner in the Mollahan Mills, Newberry, S.C. She was tending her "sides" like a veteran, but after I took the photo, the overseer came up and said in an apologetic tone that was pathetic, "She just happened in." Then a moment later he repeated the information. The mills appear to be full of youngsters that "just happened in," or " are helping sister." Dec. 3, 08. Witness Sara R. Hine. Location: Newberry, South Carolina / Photo by Lewis W. Hine". Library of Congress. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
  13. "[Two "mug shots" of Al Capone made by the Miami police; head-and-shoulders portrait facing right and head-and-shoulders portrait facing front]". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  14. "Girl from iconic Great Depression photo: 'We were ashamed'". CNN. 3 December 2008. Archived from the original on 5 December 2008. Retrieved 4 December 2008.
  15. Jamieson, Alastair (21 September 2008). "Robert Capa 'faked' war photo new evidence produced". The Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 5 June 2009. Retrieved 26 July 2009. Looking at the photos it is clear that it is not the heat of battle. It is likely the soldiers were carrying out an exercise either for Capa or themselves.
  16. "See The Photo That Forever Changed Air Travel". 100 Photographs | The Most Influential Images of All Time.
  17. "The Camera Overseas: 136,000,000 People See This Picture of Shanghai's South Station". Life. Vol. 3, no. 14. Time, Inc. 4 October 1937. pp. 102–103. ISSN 0024-3019.
  18. Buell, Hal (2006). Uncommon Valor, Common Virtue: Iwo Jima and the Photograph that Captured America. Berkeley, California: Berkeley Publishing Group/Penguin Group. pp. 104, 221. ISBN 978-0-425-20980-6. Archived from the original on 8 July 2014.
  19. Sontheimer, Michael (5 July 2008). "The Art of Soviet Propaganda: Iconic Red Army Reichstag Photo Faked". Der Spiegel. Archived from the original on 13 September 2008. Retrieved 3 June 2011.
  20. "Greta Zimmer Friedman dies; kissed sailor in World War II iconic photo". The Washington Times. 11 September 2016. Archived from the original on 13 September 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  21. "How One Photo Turned Gandhi Into An Icon". 100 Photographs | The Most Influential Images of All Time.
  22. Krock, Lexi (22 April 2003). "Anatomy of Photo 51". NOVA online. PBS. Archived from the original on 29 July 2010.
  23. Communists, Capitalists still buy into Iconic Che Photo, Author says Archived 4 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine by Brian Byrnes, CNN, 5 May 2009
  24. "How A Photographer Captured The Line Between Freedom and Repression". 100 Photographs | The Most Influential Images of All Time.
  25. Rowell, Galen. "The Earthrise Photograph". ABC. Archived from the original on 26 August 2013.
  26. "Apollo 17: The Blue Marble". ehartwell.com. 25 April 2007. Archived from the original on 16 May 2007. Retrieved 18 January 2008.
  27. "Vietnam war's 'napalm girl' Kim Phuc has laser treatment to heal wounds". The Guardian. Associated Press. 25 October 2015. Archived from the original on 12 June 2016. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
  28. Alfano, Sean (4 June 2009). ""Tank Man": The Picture That Almost Wasn't". CBS News. Archived from the original on 9 June 2011.
  29. Moskowitz, Clara (1 September 2014). "An Origin Story, How the Iconic Pillars of Creation Arose". Scientific American: 21. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0914-21. Archived from the original on 20 April 2016.
  30. "Former detainee blames trauma on US captors", The Washington Post; accessed 5 January 2019.
  31. "Remarkable Photo of a Single Atom Wins Science Photography Contest". 14 February 2018.
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