Beneath the Surface: Mining and American Photography

Exhibitions

Mary Mattingly (American, b. 1978), A Silence Contained for Years, 2018.

Inkjet print. Image and sheet: 29 3/4 × 29 3/4 in. (75.57 × 75.57 cm); framed: 31 × 31 × 2 in. (78.74 × 78.74 × 5.08 cm). Purchase, with funds from the Photography Council, M2024.57

Overview

  • October 23, 2026–Jan 18, 2027

  • Herzfeld Center for Photography and Media Arts

  • Free for Members

  • Included with admission

Spanning 180 years of photography, Beneath the Surface explores how artists have worked to make visible the mining and drilling that power modern life yet often remain unseen. From 19th-century documentation to striking contemporary artworks, the exhibition traces how generations of photographers have developed new ways to picture the expansive yet elusive activities of extracting, transporting, and processing natural resources across the United States.

The photographs reveal the transformed landscapes, affected communities, and laboring workers and systems behind the technologies we use every day—including photography, which requires precious metals like light-sensitive silver for historical processes and copper for digital camera batteries today. Bringing together iconic images and novel discoveries, Beneath the Surface invites visitors to consider photography’s power to shape public understanding of extractive activities as well as their environmental, social, and human consequences.

This exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Art in collaboration with the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Amon Carter Museum of American Art and is co-curated by Kristen Gaylord, Herzfeld Curator of Photography and Media Arts at the Milwaukee Art Museum, and Diane Waggoner, acting head and curator of photographs at the National Gallery of Art.

Selected artworks

Stephen Shore (American, b. 1947), Beverly Boulevard and La Brea Avenue, Los Angeles, California, June 21, 1975, 1975.

Chromogenic print. Milwaukee Art Museum, Purchase, Herzfeld Foundation Acquisition Fund, M2011.36. © 1975 Stephen Shore, courtesy of 303 Gallery, New York

David Maisel, American Mine, Carlin, Nevada 1, 2007.

Inkjet print. 48 × 48 in. (121.92 × 121.92 cm). Collection of Amy and Tony D’Orazio. © David Maisel. Photo by Jaime Alvarez

Carleton E. Watkins, Malakoff Diggins, North Bloomfield, Nevada County [California], 1871.

Albumen print. Image: 16 3/8 × 21 1/2 in. (41.59 × 54.61 cm); mount: 22 × 28 in. (55.88 × 71.12 cm). Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas

Will Wilson, Shiprock Disposal Site, Shiprock, Navajo Nation, 36. 769690596277414 N / -108. 68547605691704 W, 2020.

Inkjet print. Image: 24 × 48 in. (60.96 × 121.92 cm); sheet 37 1/4 × 43 in. (94.62 × 109.22 cm); back mat: 35 15/16 x 43 1/2 in. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Charina Endowment Fund in memory of Robert B. Menschel, 2024.38.2. Courtesy of the artist and www.dineconnect.org

William Herman Rau, South Plainfield Coal Storage, capacity 100,000 tons, c. 1890.

Albumen print. 17 1/8 × 20 1/2 in. (43.5 × 52.1 cm). San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Collection of Paul Sack

Gordon Parks, [Oil refinery and Pipelines], c. 1944.

Gelatin silver print. 14 x 11 in. (35.56 × 27.94 cm). Photography Collection, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. Courtesy of Exxon Mobil Corporation

Unknown, Portrait of a California gold miner with pick and shovel, c. 1855.

Quarter-plate daguerreotype. Plate (quarter): 4 1/4 × 3 1/4 in. (10.8 × 8.26 cm); case (tray): 4 11/16 × 3 5/8 × 3/8 in. (11.91 × 9.22 × 0.97 cm). The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri (Gift of the Hall Family Foundation) 2017.68.279. Image courtesy of Nelson-Atkins Digital Production & Preservation

Mary Mattingly (American, b. 1978), Cobalt Map, 2016.

Inkjet print. Image and sheet: 29 3/4 × 29 3/4 in. (75.57 × 75.57 cm); framed: 31 × 31 × 2 in. (78.74 × 78.74 × 5.08 cm). Purchase, with funds from the Photography Council, M2024.58

Richard Avedon, Tom Stroud, oil field worker, Velma, Oklahoma, 6/12/80, gelatin silver print, Courtesy of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, © The Richard Avedon Foundation

Milton Rogovin, Doris McKinney, Republic Steel (Working People series), 1978-1979.

Gelatin silver print. Image: 7 3/16 x 6 11/16 in. (18.3 x 17 cm); sheet: 9 15/16 x 8 in. (25.3 x 20.3 cm); mat: 14 x 16 in. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Pierre Cremieux and Denise Jarvinen, 2010.138.32. © 2025, the Estate of Milton Rogovin

Florence Kemmler, Oil Drums, c. 1929.

Chlorobromide print. Image: 10 1/2 × 13 5/8 in. (26.67 × 34.61 cm); mat: 18 x 22 in. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund, 2024.71.7

Fons Ianelli, Jim Faye returning from the mines, Harlan County, Appalachia, 1946.

Gelatin silver print. Image 10 1/4 × 8 in. (26.04 × 20.32 cm); sheet 10 1/4 × 8 in. (26.04 × 20.32 cm). Black Dog Collection. Courtesy, Steven Kasher Gallery

Zig Jackson, Rising Buffalo, Indian Man at Kennecott Copper Mine, Tooele, Utah, 2004.

Gelatin silver print. Image 13 × 16 in. (33.0 × 40.6 cm); sheet 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm). San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Accessions Committee purchase, by exchange, through a gift of Michael D. Abrams. © Zig Jackson. Tenari Tuatagaloa

Lewis Wickes Hine, “A lonely job.” Willie Bryden, a nipper, 13 yrs old, Pittston, Pa., 1911.

Gelatin silver print. 4 1/2 × 5 5/16 in. (11.43 × 13.49 cm). Gift of Robert Mann

Lucas Foglia (American, b. 1983), Naughton Power Plant, PacifiCorp, Kemmerer, Wyoming, from the series Frontcountry, 2010, printed 2020.

Inkjet print. Image: 19 3/8 × 26 in. (49.21 × 66.04 cm); sheet: 23 1/2 × 30 in. (59.69 × 76.2 cm); framed: 24 1/4 × 30 3/4 × 1 3/4 in. (61.6 × 78.11 × 4.45 cm). Gift of Dr. Joseph Chazan, M2020.86. © Lucas Foglia

Edward Weston, Gulf Oil–Pt. Arthur, 1941.

Gelatin silver print. 7 9/16 × 9 9/16 in. (19.21 × 24.29 cm). Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas. © 1981 Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents

Cara Romero, Oil Boom, 2015, printed 2023.

Inkjet print. Image: 40 × 40 in. (101.6 × 101.6 cm); sheet: 43 1/2 × 44 in. (110.49 × 111.76 cm). National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Funds from Renée Harbers Liddell, 2024.45.2. © Cara Romero. All rights reserved.

Jack Delano, Anthracite Coal Mine Near Pottsville, Pennsylvania, 1938.

Gelatin silver print. Image and sheet: 9 15/16 × 7 15/16 in. (25.3 × 20.2 cm); mat: 14 x 16 in. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of the UBS Art Collection, 2023.30.53

Arthur Rothstein, Copper Pit, Ruth, Nevada, 1940.

Gelatin Silver print. Image: 9 1/2 × 7 3/8 in. (24.13 × 18.73 cm); sheet 10 × 8 in. (25.4 × 20.32 cm); mat: 20 x 16 in. (50.8 × 40.64 cm). Black Dog Collection

Mitch Epstein, Amos Coal Power Plant, Raymond City, West Virginia, 2004, printed 2025.

Inkjet print. 62 x 80 in. (157.48 × 203.2 cm). National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of the artist. © Mitch Epstein

Featured events

View all featured events

Loading...

Upcoming events

View all events

Loading...

View all events

Support

Leadership sponsor

  • In memory of Christina L. Balk

Supporting sponsor

  • Anonymous

Contributing sponsors

  • Dr. Shaheda Govani and Neil DeKarske

  • Milwaukee Art Museum’s Photography Council

  • Christopher E. Olofson

  • The Ruttenberg ‘52 Collection

Exhibitions in the Herzfeld Center for Photography and Media Arts are sponsored by

  • Herzfeld Foundation

The Milwaukee Art Museum extends its sincere thanks to the Visionaries.

  • Debbie and Mark Attanasio

  • Donna and Donald Baumgartner

  • Murph Burke

  • Bill and Sandy Haack

  • Chris Harned and Elizabeth Quadracci Harned

  • The Helmerich Trust

  • Kenneth and Alice Kayser

  • Joan Lubar and John Crouch

  • Jeff and Gail Yabuki