The Florida Museum of Photographic Arts (FMoPA) occupies the 2nd and 3rd floors of the Cube, adjacent to Rivergate Tower in downtown Tampa, Florida. FMoPA is part of the Waterfront Arts District, along with the Tampa Museum of Art and Glazer Children's Museum, all located alongside the Tampa Riverwalk.
Museum History
In the spring of 2001, Cynthia L. Flowers put forward the idea of starting a photography museum in Tampa. Shortly thereafter, Charles J. Levin (an attorney), Vincent Sorrentino (an art dealer) and Cynthia L. Flowers (a business owner) established the Tampa Gallery of Photographic Arts, a museum dedicated to photography. Working in close cooperation with Madison Marquette, the owner of Old Hyde Park Village, exhibition space for the museum was secured. "Masters of Black & White," the first show, consisted of 50 iconic black and white images borrowed from private collections. With many of the early shows curated by Vincent Sorrentino, critical acclaim followed. Since its inception, the museum has qualified as a not-for-profit entity under the provisions of s. 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954.
In the fall of 2001, Ms. Flowers began the museum’s first children’s outreach program. It involved reaching children at the USF/Patel Partnership Elementary School located at the University of South Florida in Tampa. From this first program, the museum developed many ongoing community programs and workshops such as the Children's Literacy Through Photography Program for at-risk children, and fee-based adult photography classes, workshops, lectures, and children's summer camps. In the Children's Literacy Through Photography Program, children are inspired through hands-on workshops and field trips where photographs are taken, discussed, printed and written about by the participants. An annual reception for the children is also held at the museum.
In the summer of 2006, the museum was renamed the FLORIDA MUSEUM of PHOTOGRAPHIC ARTS and relocated to downtown Tampa. It then moved to its present location in the Waterfront Arts District in Rivergate Tower's architecturally significant Cubes, with soaring six-story atriums, recognized as one of the most impressive interior spaces on the west coast of Florida. The exceptional location and exhibition space is a catalyst for community involvement and FMoPA's outreach programs.
Permanent Collection
The photographic works in the growing permanent collection include an entire suite of Harold Edgerton's landmark works using his invention, the strobe light. Also in the collection are Len Prince's celebrity portraits, a notable Dorothea Lange, a portrait of Ansel Adams by Judy Dater, scenes of Pittsburgh by Charles "Teenie" Harris and a body of work by Dianora Niccolini, a pioneer in the photographing of the male nude. The female nude is well represented in a work by Ruth Bernhard. Burk Uzzle's iconic Woodstock scenes as well as Bud Lee's unforgettable views of the 1960s and 1970s counterculture document important moments in American history. More historical moments are found in an expanding collection of panoramic (or "Cirkut") photographs taken in the early 20th century, including views of the construction of the Panama Canal and of early Tampa history.
Past Exhibitions
Since 2001, past exhibitions include:
- Masters of Black & White Exhibition, May 4 â€" July 1, 2001
- Faces and Places: One Man Show by Herb Snitzer, September 9 â€" October 28, 2001
- War and Peace: World War II, December 8, 2001 â€" January 27, 2002
- The Photography of Peter B. Kaplan, March 23 â€" June 2, 2002
- Post 9-11: Slices of Life from Countries Once Foreign, September 6 â€" October 27, 2002
- Clyde Butcher Retrospective, November 2, 2002 â€" January 5, 2003
- Berenice Abbott: American Photographer: A Fantastic Passion, February 1 â€" March 30, 2003
- Black Culture Viewed Through the Lens, May 2 â€" June 29, 2003
- Stopping Time: Photographs of Harold Edgerton, September 13 â€" October 26, 2003
- Hard Won Dreams: the American Southwest: Photographs of Bruce Dale, November 8, 2003 â€" January 11, 2004
- Abstractions and the Neo-Cubist Order: Photographs of Barbara Kasten, February 7 â€" April 18, 2004
- Cut, Edit and Embellish â€" A Life in Collage: an Exhibition of Photography by Hugh Shurley, October 16, 2004 â€" January 2, 2005
- Caterpillar’s Conundrum: The Photographic Investigations of Todd Watts, February. 18 â€" April 17, 2005
- In Sight: Images from Our Children’s Program, May 20 â€" July 9, 2005
- One Shot Harris: The Photographys of Charles "Teenie" Harris, September 24, 2005 â€" January 29, 2006
- No Man’s Land The Photography of Lynne Cohen, March 17 â€" May 21, 2006
- Eyes of A Child: Images from Our Children’s Literacy through Photography Program, June 9â€"23, 2006
- Aaron Siskind: A Harlem Document (1932â€"1940), September 15 â€" November 5, 2006
- Technology Into Art: The Photogravure from 1850 to Today, November 10, 2006 â€" January 28, 2007
- Tom Abercrombie: National Geographic Photographer, February 2 â€" April 15, 2007
- Face to Face: Judy Dater’s Portraits from Italy and California, April 20, 2007 â€" June 15, 2007
- Florida Showcase, August 10 â€" September 8, 2007
- Cuba: Selected Works of Clyde Butcher and Maria Martinez-Canas, September 18 â€" November 10, 2007
- Cuba Particular: (Private Cuba) The Photography of David Audet, September 18 - November 10, 2007
- Life in Cuba: Photographs from the personal collections of area families, September 18 â€" November 10, 2007
- Eye in the Sky: The Works of Robert Hartman, November 16, 2007 â€" January 9, 2008
- The Magic Box of Abelardo Morell and Panoramic Views of the Past: Cirkut Photographs by the Burgert Brothers, January 2008
- Masters of Black and White: Including selections from the Drapkin Collection, April 2008
- Masks & Identity: Len Prince in the Collection of William K. Zewadski, June 2008
- Eyes of A Child: Summer Showcase, June 12 â€" 28, 2008
- Graciela Iturbide: The Spirits of the Earth, September 18 - November 8, 2008.
- Twice Exposed: Photographic & Print works from the Permanent Collection of the USF Contemporary Art Museum, November 20, 2008
- NFL History from Getty Images, January 22 â€" February 26, 2009
- My Neighborhood, February 3 â€" 14, 2009
- Contemporary Chinese Photography, March 12 - May, 2009
- The Disappeared: Native American Images from the Drapkin Collection, May 21, 2009
- Eyes of A Child: Summer Showcase, July 11â€"25, 2009
- Burk Uzzle’s Woodstock and Other Americana, September 17, 2009
- Flashback: Photos from the Tampa Bay Community, September 17, 2009
- Andrea Modica: Flights of the Soul, November 2009
- August Sander, the Twentieth Century Man / Jules Aarons, Views from the Street, January 2010
- Portraits of the Artists and Other Selections from the Collection of Robert and Elizabeth Sanchez, March 2010
- Infected Landscape: Works by Shai Kremer, May 27 â€" July 17, 2010
- R. Daniel Harnly Memorial Juried Student Showcase, May 27 - June 26, 2010
- Naked City: Photography from Vassar College’s Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, January 2011
- Natural Fashion: Art and the Body, Photographs by Hans Silvester, February 10 - April 10, 2011
- Classic Images: Photography by Ansel Adams, April 28 - July 6, 2011
- Life and Death by Duane Michals, September 8 - November 6, 2011.
- Bud Lee's America & Celebration of the Body: The Works of Dianora Niccolini, November 17, 2011 - January 8, 2012
- Andy Warhol & Friends, March 10 â€" May 27, 2012
- The Secret Paris of the 1930s: Vintage Photographs by Brassaï, May 31 â€" August 19, 2012
- Portraits of Power: Photographs by Platon, August 23 - November 11, 2012
- Mario Algaze: Cuba 1999-2000, October 18 - January 27, 2013
- Dorothea Lange’s America, November 15 - January 27, 2013
- Chuck Close: A Couple Ways of Doing Something, January 31 - March 31, 2013
- Vivian Maier: Out of the Shadows, April 4 - June 16, 2013
- Edward S. Curtis Photogravures from the Collection of Deli Sacilotto, June 20 - September 8, 2013
- New Visions: Contemporary Artist Series, Featuring Edmund Fountain, Sissi Farassat, and Jim Reynolds, June 20 - September 8, 2013
- Frida & Friends: The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo, September 12 - November 10, 2013
- Exposing the Self: Photography and Surrealism, September 12 - November 10, 2013
- Gangsters, Pirates, & Cigars: A Photographic History of Tampa 1879-1955, November 15 - February 23, 2014
- David Hilliard: Intimacies, March 7 - May 18, 2014
- New Visions: Polly Gaillard and Allison Hunter, May 23 - August 31, 2014
- Ruth Bernhard: Body and Form, September 5 - December 28, 2014
- Elger Esser: Combray,October 6, 2014 - March 29, 2015
- Jim Reynolds: Cityscapes, April 1, 2015 - June 30, 2015
- VAIVEN: Six Visual Journeys between Spain and the US, October 2, 2015 - November 30, 2015
- Faces of Alzheimer's, January 2, 2016 - March 1, 2016
- Sandra Gottlieb: Earth and Water, January 2, 2016 - March 25, 2016
- Gohar Dashti: Iran Untitled and Stateless, January 2, 2016 - June 1, 2016
- Danny Lyon: People, April 1, 2016 - June 30, 2016
- Shai Kremer: Concrete Abstract, June 3, 2016 - September 25, 2016
- Jerry Uelsmann: Undiscovered Self, July 2016 - December 2016
- There is a Light that Never Goes Out: Wendy Babcox, Jason Lazarus, Noelle Mason, September 2016 - December 2016
- Lynn Saville: Dark City, October 21, 2016 - November 20, 2016
- By the Yard: Cirkut Camera Photography, January - December 2017
- Linda Connor: Gravity, January 16, 2017 - March 31, 2017
- The Boomer List: Photographs by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, April 28, 2017 - June 8, 2017
- She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not, June 10, 2017 - September 10, 2017
Visiting
The Florida Museum of Photographic Arts is open seven days a week. Monday-Thursday 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Friday 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Saturday-Sunday 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Admission to the museum is free for museum members and there is a suggested donation for non-members, students and military.
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References
External links
- Florida Museum of Photographic Arts website
- 12th Annual Members' Show website
