Polaroid founder Edwin Land regarded his invention as more than a
technical accomplishment or a convenient medium for both professional
photographers and consumers – he saw Polaroid as a means of artistic
expression. At Land’s behest, and starting from a collaboration with
Ansel Adams in 1949, Polaroid built an artists’ liaison programme in
which artists and photographers would donate prints in return for
materials and access to cutting-edge Polaroid technology – including the
legendary 24 x 20 inch Polaroid camera. Over the next five decades, the
Polaroid collections in both the United States and Europe became
world-renowned for the stellar list of names whose work it contained.
Following Polaroid’s second bankruptcy in 2008, the collections were
fragmented – the US and European collections were split and key works
were sold at auction. A comprehensive view of the collection was no
longer possible – until now. With an associated, internationally touring
exhibition opening in June 2017, The Polaroid Project is the only book
to bring together both the outstanding photography created by the
artists and photographers Polaroid worked with, alongside the technical
objects and artifacts from the MIT Museum archive. Curated by William A.
Ewing and Barbara Hitchcock, and with texts from other leading critics,
curators and writers that discuss the Polaroid phenomenon in terms of
artistic output and lasting legacy on design, technology, society and
business, this book is the definitive publication for the many who have a
deep love of Polaroid.