Willis "Buzz" Hartshorn
Director, International Center of Photography
A photographer, curator and author, Willis Hartshorn was appointed Director of the International Center of Photography in 1994. Hartshorn holds a B.A. degree from the University of Rochester and an M.F.A. degree in Photographic Studies from the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester. He joined ICP’s Exhibitions Department in 1982 and served as Traveling Exhibitions Coordinator, Director of Exhibitions, and Deputy Director for Programs prior to his appointment as Director. Formerly with the Traveling Exhibitions Program at the Visual Studies Workshop, he also served as Curatorial Assistant at the International Museum of Photography / George Eastman House, Rochester.
His photographs have been shown in individual and group exhibitions since 1973, and he has been the recipient of two NEA photography fellowships. Among the major exhibitions curated for ICP by Hartshorn are Czech Modernism: 1918-1945 (with the Museum of Fine Art, Houston, 1989); Annie Leibovitz: Photographs 1970-1990 (with The National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.); Man Ray/Bazaar Years: A Retrospective (1990); and 11 exhibitions in the “New Directions” series, including Two to Tango: Collaboration in Recent American Photography and Art & Advertising: Commercial Photography by Artists.
For more than a decade, teaching at all levels of ICP’s Education programs has been an important undertaking. The Vera List Center Advisory Committee of New York University, the Board of the Museum Association of New York (MANY), the American Association of Museums (AAM), and the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) are among the organizations that he participates in.