Controversial, combative and utterly brilliant, the late photographer’s enigmatic “non-narrative” images of America’s changing social complexion continue to unsettle and inspire.

The Berlin-born artist photographed MoMA’s first catalog, hung out with Edward Weston and made some of the most luminous nude studies in the medium’s history.

Almost 200 years ago Nicéphore Niépce pointed his camera obscura at the world outside his window and captured an image on a light-sensitized pewter plate. Not only was this the first photograph, it also became the first word in what is now a lively and voluminous lexicon of photographic imagery. Since that momentous day, photographers have followed his example and developed a visual language that defines and shapes our understanding of the world, one that utilizes a vocabulary that converts our thoughts into visual explanations of our experiences and lives.