This seminar will allow students to study in-depth one of the key artists of the twentieth century and to participate in the early planning stages for a major retrospective exhibition that will take place in the fall of 2014. Students will participate in extensive review of the literature on Paul Strand, and they will have access to the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s collection of more than 3,000 prints. Each participant will be asked to conduct research on one project of Strand’s career. The central question of the seminar will be: how to organize a major single-artist exhibition? The class will participate in every aspect of planning a large exhibition, including organizing the publication; object selection and loan requests; conservation; exhibition layout; exhibition programming. In addition to working with the Strand collection at the PMA, the class may visit The Museum of Modern Art and a private collection of Strand’s photographs, as well as several major museum exhibitions. The seminar will proceed chronologically, with every week treating one or two major projects by Strand. Strand projects include: Strand’s modernist work; Manhatta; Southwestern and Mexican photography, including Redes; Frontier Films Project, including Native Land; Egypt; Morocco and Ghana. Course requirements: 1 15-page research paper; in-class presentations; full participation in seminars (held both at Penn and at the PMA, alternating weeks) and short research trips (TBA).