In 1934, a small group of California photographers was challenging the painterly, soft-focus photography style of the day, championed by the pictorialists. They argued that the appropriate direction for the photographic arts exploited characteristics inherent to the camera’s mechanical nature: sharp focus and great depth of field.

This small association of innovators—named Group f/64 after the camera’s smallest aperture, which produces the greatest depth of field—included Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Imogen Cunningham, Willard Van Dyke, Alma Lavenson and others.  Phoenix Art Museum this month closes its exhibition “Debating Modern Photography: The Triumph of Group f/64,” on view through Dec. 30 in the Norton Photography Gallery. In addition to major works by members of Group f/64, it includes images by such pictorialists as Anne Brigman, William Dassonville, Johan Hagemeyer, William Mortensen and Karl Struss.

For more information, visit online at PhxArt.org or call the 24-hour information line at 602-257-1222.