The thrill of the chase : the Wagstaff collection of photographs at the J. Paul Getty Museum /

Sam Wagstaff was exactly the perfect person living at the right moment to make a significant contribution to photography. Born into a wealthy family, he was a successful museum curator, had idiosyncratic tastes, and possessed great confidence. He had the foresight to begin collecting photographs when they were still considered a lesser art, before a market had developed to inflate their values. Wagstaff acquired 26,000 photographs between 1973 and 1984, then donated the collection to the Getty Museum, dramatically expanding its holdings. Included here are 147 photographs, representing a cross-section of Wagstaff's interests. His choices were unusual at the time, but he pioneered a strategy that came to be widely used by museums: acquiring vernacular photographs by anonymous makers side by side with those of the greatest practitioners; assembling documents not created as aesthetic objects-medical images, police crime photos, and other improbable but exceptional pictures. Getty associate curator Martineau, curator emeritus Weston Naef, and art historian Eugenia Parry describe the life and ideas of this figure whose offerings to the medium were significant. VERDICT Recommended for collectors, students, and scholars of photography and admirers of Wagstaff and his circle. © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.