International Center of Photography

The International Center of Photography (ICP) is a photography museum and school at 79 Essex Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. ICP's photographic collection, reading room, and archives are at Mana Contemporary in Jersey City, New Jersey. The organization was founded by Cornell Capa in 1974. It is located at 79 Essex Street, within the Lower East Side.

ICP is the host of the Infinity Awards, inaugurated in 1985 "to bring public attention to outstanding achievements in photography by honoring individuals with distinguished careers in the field and by identifying future luminaries."

History
Since its founding in 1974 by Cornell Capa with help from Micha Bar-Am in Willard Straight House, on Fifth Avenue's Museum Mile, ICP has presented over 500 exhibitions, bringing the work of more than 3,000 photographers and other artists to the public in one-person and group exhibitions and provided various classes and workshops for students.

Founding
ICP was founded to keep the legacy of "Concerned Photography" alive. After the untimely deaths of his brother Robert Capa and his colleagues Werner Bischof, Chim (David Seymour), and Dan Weiner in the 1950s, Capa saw the need to keep their humanitarian documentary work in the public eye. In 1966 he founded the International Fund for Concerned Photography. By 1974 the Fund needed a home, and the International Center of Photography was created.

In 1985, a satellite facility, ICP Midtown, was created. Plans were also made for redesigning and reconstructing the Midtown location.

Redesign and reconstruction
In 1999, the headquarters building at 1130 Fifth Avenue was sold. The expanded galleries at 1133 Avenue of the Americas at 43rd Street were designed by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects for the display of photography and new media. The reopening in the fall of 2000 of the 17000 sqft site, previously used as a photo gallery for Kodak, provided in one location the same amount of gallery space as the two previous sites combined and became the headquarters of ICP's public exhibitions programs, and also housed an expanded store and a café.

The expansion of the school of the International Center of Photography in the fall of 2001 created a Midtown campus diagonally across from the museum in the Grace Building at 1114 Avenue of the Americas. Designed by the architecture firm Gensler, the 27000 sqft school facility doubled ICP's teaching space and allowed ICP to expand both its programming and community outreach.

Move to the Bowery and Essex Crossing
In 2014, ICP's board approved a plan to buy a building on the Bowery near the New Museum and relocate there. The center's school, whose lease continued through 2018, remained in Midtown, but was expected to eventually move downtown to consolidate operations. The midtown museum closed on January 11, 2015, when its lease ended. The ICP museum at 250 Bowery opened on June 23, 2016. In 2017, ICP signed a deal with Delancey Street Associates to house its museum and school at Essex Crossing on the Lower East Side. In 2019, ICP sold its space at 250 Bowery and purchased its new home at 79 Essex Street at Essex Crossing.

In January 2020, ICP opened its new integrated center at 79 Essex Street. Designed by architecture firm Gensler, the 40000 sqft building has galleries, media labs, classrooms, darkrooms, shooting studios, a shop, café, research library and public event spaces. The new space is the cultural anchor of the $1.9 billion six-acre Essex Crossing development.

ICP School
ICP's school serves more than 3,500 students each year, offering courses in a curriculum that ranges from darkroom classes to certificate and master's degree programs. Other educational programming includes a lecture series, seminars, symposia, and workshops hosted by professional photographers. In 2023, educator, artist, and photographer Colette Veasey-Cullors became the Dean and Deputy Director of ICP's school, joining from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) where she served as Interim Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies.

Opened in 2001, the School was previously at a 27000 sqft facility at 1114 Avenue of the Americas. Designed by Gensler, it was across the street from the former ICP Museum. ICP's school and museum are now located in a unified center on Manhattan's Lower East Side at 79 Essex Street.

The school offers a year-round selection of continuing education classes; three one-year Certificate programs (Creative Practices in Photography, Documentary Practice and Visual Journalism, and New Media Narratives); and the ICP-Bard Program in Advanced Photographic Studies, a two-year graduate program leading to a master of fine arts degree.

Public programs
Public programs address issues in photography and its relationship to art, culture, and society and promote the interpretation of ICP's exhibitions and collections. The Photographers Lecture Series invites photographers to present their work while sharing ideas and concerns about the medium. Other seminars, symposia, and panel discussions feature artists, critics, scholars, and historians.

Community programs
Community programs relate to the exhibitions. Programs include interactive tours, family day events, workshops, long-term photography programs in four New York City public schools, summer photography programs in community centers, and a high school internship program designed to promote youth leadership.

Infinity Awards
The ICP hosts the Infinity Awards, which were inaugurated in 1985 "to bring public attention to outstanding achievements in photography by honoring individuals with distinguished careers in the field and by identifying future luminaries".

1985

 * Master of Photography: André Kertész
 * Applied/Fashion/Advertising: Sarah Moon
 * Art: David Hockney
 * Photojournalism: Alberto Venzago
 * Publication: Photo Poche
 * Young Photographer:

1986

 * Master of Photography: Hiroshi Hamaya
 * Lifetime Achievement: Edward K. Thompson
 * Art: Lucas Samaras
 * Design: Alan Richardson
 * Photojournalism: Sebastião Salgado
 * Publication: W. Eugene Smith, Let Truth Be the Prejudice: W. Eugene Smith, His Life and Photographs
 * Young Photographer: Anthony Suau

1987

 * Master of Photography: Manuel Álvarez Bravo
 * Lifetime Achievement: Harold Edgerton
 * Applied/Fashion/Advertising: Jay Maisel
 * Art: Robert Rauschenberg
 * Design: Hans-Georg Pospischil
 * Photojournalism: Eugene Richards
 * Publication: Robert Frank, New York to Nova Scotia
 * Young Photographer: Paul Graham

1988

 * Master of Photography: Alfred Eisenstaedt
 * Lifetime Achievement: Edwin H. Land
 * Applied/Fashion/Advertising: Guy Bourdin
 * Art: Georges Rousse and Joel-Peter Witkin
 * Design: Werner Jeker
 * Photojournalism: Sebastião Salgado
 * Publication: Richard Misrach, Desert Cantos
 * Writing: Peter Galassi
 * Young Photographer: Marc Trivier

1989

 * Master of Photography: Berenice Abbott
 * Lifetime Achievement: Alexander Liberman
 * Applied/Fashion/Advertising: Joyce Tenneson
 * Art: Arnulf Rainer
 * Design: Michael Rand
 * Photojournalism: James Nachtwey
 * Publication: Josef Koudelka, Exiles
 * Writing: John Szarkowski
 * Young Photographer: Pablo Cabado

1990

 * Master of Photography: Yousuf Karsh
 * Lifetime Achievement: Gordon Parks
 * Applied/Fashion/Advertising: Annie Leibovitz
 * Art: Chuck Close
 * Photojournalism: Jacques Langevin
 * Publication: Sarah Greenough and Joel Snyder, On the Art of Fixing a Shadow: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Photography
 * Writing: Max Kozloff
 * Young Photographer: Miro Svolik

1991

 * Master of Photography: Harry Callahan
 * Lifetime Achievement: Andreas Feininger
 * Applied/Fashion/Advertising: Herb Ritts
 * Art: Duane Michals
 * Design: Gran Fury
 * Photojournalism: Antonin Kratochvil
 * Publication: Sylvia Plachy, Sylvia Plachy's Unguided Tour
 * Writing: Anna Fárová
 * Young Photographer: Walter Dhladhla

1992

 * Master of Photography: Lennart Nilsson
 * Lifetime Achievement: Carl Mydans
 * Applied/Fashion/Advertising: Oliviero Toscani
 * Art: Doug and Mike Starn
 * Design: Gunter Rambow
 * Photojournalism: Christopher Morris
 * Publication: Irving Penn, Passage: A Work Record
 * Writing: Alan Trachtenberg
 * Young Photographer: Klaus Reisinger

1993

 * Master of Photography: Richard Avedon
 * Lifetime Achievement: Stefan Lorant
 * Applied/Fashion/Advertising: Geof Kern
 * Art: Anselm Kiefer
 * Design: David Carson
 * Photojournalism: James Nachtwey
 * Publication: Jane Livingston, The New York School: Photographs, 1936-1963
 * Writing: Arthur C. Danto
 * Young Photographer: Nick Waplington

1994

 * Master of Photography: Henri Cartier-Bresson
 * Lifetime Achievement: Howard Chapnick
 * Applied/Fashion/Advertising: Bruce Weber
 * Art: Cindy Sherman
 * Photojournalism: Hans-Jürgen Burkard
 * Publication: Sebastião Salgado and Lelia Wanick Salgado, Workers: An Archaeology of the Industrial Age
 * Writing: Maria Morris Hambourg and Pierre Apraxine
 * Young Photographer: Fazal Sheikh

1995

 * Master of Photography: Eve Arnold
 * Lifetime Achievement: John Szarkowski
 * Applied/Fashion/Advertising: Josef Astor
 * Art: Clarissa Sligh
 * Design: Yolanda Cuomo
 * Photojournalism: Gilles Peress
 * Publication: Eugene Richards, Americans We: Photographs and Notes
 * Writing: Deborah Willis
 * Young Photographer: Sean Doyle

1996

 * Master of Photography: Horst P. Horst
 * Lifetime Achievement: Cornell Capa
 * Applied/Fashion/Advertising: Wolfgang Volz
 * Art: Annette Messager
 * Design: Markus Rasp
 * Photojournalism: Lise Sarfati
 * Publication: Gilles Peress, The Silence
 * Writing: A. D. Coleman
 * Young Photographer: Eva Leitolf

1997

 * Master of Photography: Helen Levitt
 * Lifetime Achievement: Robert Delpire
 * Applied/Fashion/Advertising: David LaChapelle
 * Art: Christian Boltanski
 * Design: Chip Kidd
 * Photojournalism: Mary Ellen Mark
 * Publication: Chris Riley and Douglas Niven, The Killing Fields
 * Writing: Vicki Goldberg
 * Young Photographer: Lauren Greenfield

1998

 * Master of Photography: Roy DeCarava
 * Lifetime Achievement: Naomi Rosenblum and Walter Rosenblum
 * Applied/Fashion/Advertising: Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin
 * Art: Sigmar Polke
 * Design: J. Abbott Miller
 * Photojournalism: Steve Hart
 * Publication: Horst Faas and Tim Page, Requiem: By the Photographers Who Died in Vietnam and Indochina
 * Writing: Robert Coles
 * Young Photographer: Michael Ackerman

1999

 * Master of Photography: Arnold Newman
 * Lifetime Achievement: Harold Evans
 * Applied/Fashion/Advertising: Julius Shulman
 * Art: Hiroshi Sugimoto
 * Design: Bart Houtman and Guido van Lier
 * Photojournalism: Alexandra Boulat
 * Publication: Charles Bowden, Juárez: The Laboratory of Our Future
 * Writing: John Morris
 * Young Photographer: Nicolai Fuglsig
 * Special Presentation: L. Fritz Gruber

2000

 * Cornell Capa Award: Robert Frank
 * Lifetime Achievement: Nathan Lyons
 * Applied/Fashion/Advertising: Hubble Heritage Project
 * Art: Adam Fuss
 * Photojournalism: James Nachtwey
 * Publication: Manfred Heiting, Helmut Newton Work
 * Writing: Andy Grundberg
 * Young Photographer: Zach Gold

2001

 * Cornell Capa Award: Mary Ellen Mark
 * Lifetime Achievement: Roger Thérond
 * Applied/Fashion/Advertising: Philip-Lorca diCorcia
 * Art: Andreas Gursky
 * Photojournalism: Luc Delahaye
 * Publication: Jeff L. Rosenheim and Douglas Eklund, Unclassified: A Walker Evans Anthology
 * Writing: Eugenia Parry
 * Young Photographer: Elinor Carucci

2002

 * Cornell Capa Award: here is New York: a democracy of photographs
 * Lifetime Achievement: Michael E. Hoffman
 * Applied/Fashion/Advertising: RJ Muna
 * Art: Shirin Neshat
 * Photojournalism: Tyler Hicks
 * Publication: Robert Lebeck and Bodo von Dewitz, Kiosk: A History of Photojournalism
 * Writing: Ariella Azoulay
 * Young Photographer: Lynsey Addario
 * Special Presentation: The New York Times "Portraits of Grief"

2003

 * Cornell Capa Award: Marc Riboud
 * Lifetime Achievement: Bernd and Hilla Becher
 * Applied/Fashion/Advertising: Thái Công
 * Art: Zarina Bhimji
 * Photojournalism: Alex Majoli
 * Publication: Deirdre O'Callaghan, Hide That Can
 * Writing: Sara Stevenson
 * Young Photographer: Jonas Bendiksen

2004

 * Cornell Capa Award: Josef Koudelka
 * Lifetime Achievement: William Eggleston
 * Applied/Fashion/Advertising: Alison Jackson
 * Art: Fiona Tan
 * Photojournalism: Simon Norfolk
 * Publication: Doon Arbus and Elisabeth Sussman, Diane Arbus: Revelations
 * Writing: Susan Sontag
 * Young Photographer: Tomoko Sawada

2005

 * Cornell Capa Award: Susan Meiselas
 * Lifetime Achievement: Bruce Weber
 * Applied/Fashion/Advertising: Deborah Turbeville
 * Art: Loretta Lux
 * Photojournalism: The New Yorker
 * Publication: Henryk Ross, Łódź Ghetto Album
 * Writing: Vince Aletti
 * Young Photographer: Tomás Munita

2006

 * Cornell Capa Award: Don McCullin
 * Lifetime Achievement: Lee Friedlander
 * Applied/Fashion/Advertising: Steven Meisel
 * Art: Thomas Ruff
 * Trustee Award: Getty Images
 * Photojournalism: Yuri Kozyrev
 * Publication: Mary Panzer and Christian Caujolle, Things As They Are: Photojournalism in Context Since 1955
 * Writing: Geoff Dyer
 * Young Photographer: Ahmet Polat

2007

 * Cornell Capa Award: Milton Rogovin
 * Lifetime Achievement: William Klein
 * Art: Tracey Moffatt
 * Trustee Award: Karl Lagerfeld
 * Publication: Tendance Floue, Sommes-Nous?
 * Writing: David Levi Strauss
 * Young Photographer: Ryan McGinley

2008

 * Lifetime Achievement: Malick Sidibé
 * Applied/Fashion/Advertising: Craig McDean
 * Art: Edward Burtynsky
 * Trustee Award: Diane Keaton
 * Photojournalism: Anthony Suau
 * Publication: Taryn Simon, An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar
 * Writing: Bill Jay
 * Young Photographer: Mikhael Subotzky

2009

 * Cornell Capa Award: Letizia Battaglia
 * Lifetime Achievement: Annie Leibovitz
 * Applied/Fashion/Advertising: Tim Walker
 * Art: Rinko Kawauchi
 * Trustee Award: Gayle G. Greenhill
 * Photojournalism: Geert van Kesteren
 * Publication: Aglaia Konrad, Desert Cities
 * Writing: Aveek Sen
 * Young Photographer: Lieko Shiga

2010

 * Cornell Capa Award: Peter Magubane
 * Lifetime Achievement: John G. Morris
 * Applied/Fashion/Advertising: Daniele Tamagni
 * Art: Lorna Simpson
 * Trustee Award: Gilbert C. Maurer
 * Photojournalism: Reza
 * Publication: Sarah Greenough, Looking In: Robert Frank's "The Americans"
 * Writing: Lucy Sante
 * Young Photographer:

2011

 * Cornell Capa Award: Ruth Gruber
 * Lifetime Achievement: Elliott Erwitt
 * Applied/Fashion/Advertising: Viviane Sassen
 * Art: Abelardo Morell
 * Trustee Award: The Durst Family
 * Photojournalism: Adrees Latif
 * Publication: Alec Soth
 * Writing: Gerry Badger
 * Young Photographer: Peter van Agtmael

2012

 * Cornell Capa Award: Ai Weiwei
 * Lifetime Achievement: Daido Moriyama
 * Applied/Fashion/Advertising: Maurice Scheltens and Liesbeth Abbenes
 * Art: Stan Douglas
 * Trustee Award: John "Launny" Steffens
 * Photojournalism: Benjamin Lowy
 * Publication: Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, The Worker Photography Movement [1926–1939]
 * Writing: David Campany
 * Young Photographer: Anouk Kruithof

2013

 * Cornell Capa Lifetime Achievement: David Goldblatt
 * Applied/Fashion/Advertising: Erik Madigan Heck
 * Art: Mishka Henner
 * Trustee Award: Pat Schoenfeld
 * Photojournalism: David Guttenfelder
 * Publication: Cristina de Middel, The Afronauts
 * Young Photographer: Kitra Cahana
 * Special Presentation: Jeff Bridges

2014

 * Cornell Capa Lifetime Achievement: Jürgen Schadeberg
 * Applied/Fashion/Advertising: Steven Klein
 * Art: James Welling
 * Photojournalism: Stephanie Sinclair and Jessica Dimmock
 * Publication: Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin, Holy Bible
 * Young Photographer: Samuel James

2015

 * Cornell Capa Lifetime Achievement: Graciela Iturbide
 * Art: Larry Fink
 * Trustee Award: The Lean In Collection by Getty Images
 * Photojournalism: Tomas van Houtryve
 * Publication: LaToya Ruby Frazier, The Notion of Family
 * New Media: Question Bridge: Black Males
 * Young Photographer: Evgenia Arbugaeva
 * Special Presentation: Mario Testino

2016

 * Lifetime Achievement: David Bailey
 * Art: Walid Raad
 * Trustee Award: Artur Walther, The Walther Collection
 * Documentary and Photojournalism: Zanele Muholi
 * Artist's Book: Matthew Connors, Fire in Cairo
 * Critical Writing and Research: Susan Schuppli
 * Online Platform and New Media: Jonathan Harris and Gregor Hochmuth for Network Effect

2017

 * Lifetime Achievement: Harry Benson
 * Art: Sophie Calle
 * Documentary and Photojournalism: Edmund Clark and Crofton Black, Negative Publicity
 * Artist's Book: Michael Christopher Brown, Libyan Sugar
 * Critical Writing and Research: Michael Famighetti and Sarah Lewis for "Vision & Justice," Aperture (no. 223, summer 2016)
 * Online Platform and New Media: For Freedoms
 * Emerging Photographer: Vasantha Yogananthan

2018
Source
 * Lifetime Achievement: Bruce Davidson
 * Applied: Alexandra Bell
 * Art: Samuel Fosso
 * Artist's Book: Dayanita Singh, Museum Bhavan
 * Critical Writing and Research: Maurice Berger, Race Stories column for the Lens section of the New York Times
 * Documentary and Photojournalism: Amber Bracken
 * Emerging Photographer: Natalie Keyssar
 * Online Platform and New Media: Women Photograph
 * Special Presentation: Juergen Teller
 * Trustees Award: Thomson Reuters

2019
Source
 * Lifetime Achievement: Rosalind Fox Solomon
 * Art: Dawoud Bey
 * Critical Writing and Research: Zadie Smith, “Deana Lawson’s Kingdom of Restored Glory” for The New Yorker
 * Emerging Photographer: Jess T. Dugan
 * Special Presentation: Shahidul Alam

2020
Source
 * Lifetime Achievement: Don McCullin
 * Documentary Practice and Visual Journalism: Hannah Reyes Morales
 * Online Platform and New Media: The 1619 Project of The New York Times Magazine
 * Applied: Nadine Ijewere

2022

 * Lifetime Achievement: Sebastião Salgado
 * Trustees: Gabriela Hearst
 * Art: Sky Hopinka
 * Documentary Practice & Photojournalism: Acacia Johnson
 * Emerging Photographer: Esther Horvath

2023
Source
 * Lifetime Achievement: Ming Smith
 * Documentary Practice and Visual Journalism: Zora J. Murff
 * Contemporary Photography and New Media: Poulomi Basu
 * Critical Writing, Research, and Theory: Ariella Aïsha Azoulay
 * Trustees Award: Joyce Cowin

2024
Source
 * Lifetime Achievement: Shirin Neshat
 * Documentary Practice and Visual Journalism: Lynsey Addario
 * Contemporary Photography and New Media: Wendy Red Star
 * Commercial and Editorial Photography: Renell Medrano
 * Trustees Award: Caryl S. Englander

Permanent collection
The permanent collection at ICP contains more than 200,000 photographs and related materials from the earliest forms of photography to contemporary work. Since its opening in 1974, ICP has acquired important historical and contemporary images through an acquisitions committee and through donations and bequests from photographers and collectors. The collection spans the history of photography, including daguerrotypes, gelatin silver and digital chromogenic prints.

The collection is strongest in its holdings of American and European documentary photography of the 1930s to the 1990s. It comprises large bodies of work by W. Eugene Smith, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, the Farm Security Administration photographers, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Lisette Model, Gordon Parks, James VanDerZee, Louise Ozelle Martin, and Garry Winogrand. More recent purchases have included work by contemporary photographers such as Carrie Mae Weems, Justine Kurland, Katy Grannan, Vik Muniz, and Susan Meiselas.

Another component of the collection is a significant group of photographically illustrated magazines, particularly those published between World War I and II, such as Vu, Regards, Picture Post, Lilliput, Berliner Illustrirte Zeitung, Arbeiter-Illustrierte-Zeitung, and Life.

Opened in 2015, the International Center of Photography at Mana Contemporary is a 15,000-square-foot space that houses the permanent collection, a media lab, areas for research, and a gallery.

Publications
In 2003 the ICP joined with the publisher Steidl of Göttingen, Germany to launch the photography imprint ICP/Steidl.

ICP/Steidl publications

 * "Strangers: The First ICP Triennial of Photography and Video." 2003.
 * Young America: The Daguerreotypes of Southworth and Hawes. 2005. Edited by Grant Romer and Brian Wallis. . Received New England Historical Society's Best Book of the Year and Kraszna-Krausz Book Award's Honorable Mention.
 * "Ecotopia: The Second ICP Triennial of Photography and Video." 2006
 * Atta Kim: On Air. 2006. By Atta Kim. Received the Deutsche Börse Prize: Best Photo Book of the Year.
 * Unknown Weegee. 2006. By Weegee. Received College Art Association Best Book Design, Honorable Mention.
 * Snap Judgments: New Positions in Contemporary African Photography. 2006. Edited by Okwui Enwezor. Received the PHotoEspaña: Best International Photography Book of the Year.
 * Susan Meiselas: In History. 2008. Received the Rencontres d’Arles 2009 Historical Book Award.
 * The Mexican Suitcase: The Rediscovered Spanish Civil War Negatives of Capa, Chim, and Taro. 2010. Received the AAM's Frances Smyth-Ravenel Prize for Excellence in Publication Design and the German Photobook 2011 Prize's Gold Award.

Other ICP publications

 * Reflections in a Glass Eye. ICP/Little, Brown, 1999. Edited by Ellen Handy.
 * "A Different Kind of Order: The ICP Triennial" New York: ICP/Delmonico Books Prestel, 2013.
 * Roman Vishniac Rediscovered. New York: ICP/Delmonico Books Prestel, 2015. Edited by Maya Benton.

DVD

 * The Decisive Moment (2007) by Henri Cartier-Bresson.

The ICP Library
The Library of the International Center of Photography serves more than 6,000 visitors a year. The information and bibliographic resources it provides are used by ICP staff, patrons, and researchers. As of 2008, the Library receives 75 periodicals and serials, and its collection of approximately 20,000 volumes and 2,000 files is available for on-site perusal.

Library materials are searchable on ICP's online catalog. The ICP Library no longer has any library staff.

The GEH–ICP Alliance
In 2000, George Eastman House (GEH) and ICP launched the GEH–ICP Alliance, whose fundamental aim is to enhance public understanding and appreciation of photography, through exhibitions, publications, research, scholarship, collection sharing, and the joint website Photomuse.org.

In this collaboration, the staffs of the International Center of Photography and George Eastman House share resources, pool their expertise, and dovetail their collections for a series of exhibitions called "New Histories of Photography".