© Tate Modern
© Tate Modern
Light and Magic: The Birth of Art Photography
14 October 2026 to 21 February 2027
Critic score
The first international survey of pictorialism, gathering over 50 artists across five continents. Rare loans sit beside Tate's own collection, rewriting art photography's history as a global story.
From Tate Modern
Discover how pictorialism, the first international art photography movement, developed across the world from the 1880s to the 1960s Bringing together over 50 artists from Seoul to Sydney, New York to Cape Town and Brazil to Singapore, this truly international exhibition takes a fresh and inclusive look at the history of art photography. Featuring never-before seen works from around the world alongside pieces from Tate's Collection,...
Read more at Tate Modern →Critic Reviews (6)
The Arts Desk
Sarah Kent
Plenty of magic, but too many mysteries
"Light and Magic acknowledges this development, but instead of accepting that Pictorialism had its day, the show promotes the idea of an ongoing afterlife. By claiming that they “underscore Pictorialism’s enduring legacy”, the curators even enrol pioneers of modernism like the Russian constructivist Alexander Rodchenko. Having dedicated his career to freeing photography from all painterly allusions, Rodchenko would turn in his grave at the suggestion that he owed anything to this essentially nostalgic genre!"
Read full review →The Guardian
Charlotte Jansen
A rhapsodic show to stop you in your tracks
"There’s genuine care and awe here. It’s a reminder that seeking moments of magic and breathtaking beauty is a human instinct, and we have a right to it."
Read full review →TimeOut
Henry Roberts
"But it is strongest as a provocation to consider what counts as photography. Two hundred years after its invention, we're still arguing about this. Light and Magic arrives at a perfect time in this debate, even if it leaves us with more questions than answers."
Read full review →The Telegraph
Alastair Sooke
The gallery falls prey to its worst tendencies
"Despite polished presentation, the show – called Light and Magic and filled with soft-focus, stilted, excessively polite pictures – proves uninspired. It’s also overly fixated on “global narratives” and photography’s craft. There’s a limit to an audience’s tolerance for grappling with the nuances of printing processes."
Read full review →The Observer
Laura Cumming
Why turn a photograph into a painting?
"Shots are made to resemble hazy pastels, heavy oil paintings and sepia prints; there is a surprising glut of these Chinese pseudo-watercolours. The show is massive, miscellaneous and frequently marvellous. But you never stop asking yourself: why?"
Read full review →Financial Times
Jackie Wullschläger
Photography’s subversive power shines through the dross
"At once a drama of humane realism and abstract line, shape and shadow, the image is on the show’s catalogue cover. It promises light and magic. How disappointing that, despite introducing some fine works, overall this misjudged exhibition neither enlightens nor enchants."
Read full review →Visit
Bankside, London·View on artmap
Sunday10am–6pm
Monday10am–6pm
Tuesday10am–6pm
Wednesday10am–6pm
Thursday10am–6pm
Friday10am–9pm
Saturday10am–9pm
