Lisa Rosenblum and Nina Rosenblum

The through thread of the works in the collection is the magical marriage of the artist’s humanist perspective with a keen aesthetic sensibility.

[Our mother’s] discerning eye and wide knowledge, as well as her recognition of the contribution of women photographers, are reflected in the scope of the collection.

Naomi Rosenblum through her pioneering scholarship and work as a historian of photography, curator, and educator brought a global perspective to a defining medium of our time and underscored its enduring artistic power. Her scholarship broadened the lens of the diversity of photographic talent, bringing a new and more complete understanding to the field.

On a more personal note, life with our mother was exciting, inspirational, invigorating and fun. Naomi was blessed with innate intelligence and inexhaustible energy…. She was refreshingly open to a wide range of views and known for communicating her well-considered positions in an honest and charmingly direct manner.

Our mother’s indomitable spirit is embodied in the Naomi Rosenblum Family Collection and the groundbreaking scholarship she shared with the world.

Deborah Willis

University Professor, Photography & Imaging and Social & Cultural Analysis
TISCH SCHOOL OF THE ARTS, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY

Naomi’s work, over some thirty years, shaped the field of photography. Naomi served as a guide to curators, art historians, and the photographic community, changing how we understand images through social history, archival practices, contemporary art and representation. She made tremendous contributions to the study of women photographers and to the history of photography.

Barbara Tannenbaum

Curator of Photography, Chair of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs
THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART

While the Rosenblum collection is a deeply personal one, it is informed by the couple’s professional knowledge of art and art history as well as their close friendships with fellow artists and art historians.  Some of the artworks, like the [John] Marin, were gifts, but many were purchased from galleries or directly from artists or found in flea markets, antiques stores and thrift shops.

Naomi Rosenblum wrote: “In doing the general research for A World History of Photography in the early 80’s, I had come across the work of many women….who had achieved some recognition but had been overlooked in later written accounts.  This research prompted me to propose a book devoted exclusively to the work of women and resulted in a “A History of Women Photographers, published by Abbeville Press in 1994 and updated in 2010”.

Moutoussamy-Ashe recently wrote to Nina and Lisa, remarking that Naomi was a “giant” who “helped us all learn so much more about our world through her own vision and research.”

Enrica Vigano

Curator, Art Critic, Publisher
ADMIRA EDIZIONI

Naomi Rosenblum represented History for me: the history of photography experienced from the inside and the history of photography studied seriously, sagaciously, and with an open mind.

[Naomi and Walter Rosenblum] had been at the center, during a time when we were all pondering the function of photography, its potential in communication, the aesthetic of the shot and the print, and the ways images could impact world events.  

Naomi loved to teach…she believed stories should not become distorted by memory-they had to reflect facts.  She brought this belief to her biggest undertaking, the writing of A World History of Photography, doing meticulous and conscientious research with an open approach and an innate ability to see the complete picture and to reconstruct all the necessary historical connections. These vital academic gifts went hand in hand with the commitment and sacrifice of a scholar, a strong woman who managed to raise a family and at the same time focus on her studies and her work.  Her dedication was extraordinary and indispensable, as she advanced her mission on every front, both personal and professional, in a society that still sought to constrict the role of women within narrow and conventional patterns.

Thus, the artist, scholar, wife, mother, teacher, woman and writer all lived together in a magical equilibrium that afforded to all who had the good fortune to know her, as I did, a greater awareness of one’s human potential.

Diana C. Stoll

Editor, Writer, Curator

Even as Naomi broadened the horizon of photography for Western eyes with A World History of Photography, she played a consequential role in bringing aspects of Western photography to other parts of the planet -not least through many editions of that book, which was published in five languages.

“Until recently there were very few models for thinking about a multivalent history of photography that included women, as well as other methodologies. She was one such scholar leading the way - really one of the only ones.” Eva Respini, Chief Curator of the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston.

Manuela Fugenzi, Italian photographic curator and historian, wrote, “She was good at history, she was good at art, she was good at sociology. And this gave her the ability to move across disciplines-which is really what photography does.”