Unidentified photographer, [Marina, Santa Cruz, Tenerife, Spain], ca. 1890, photochrom. The Image Centre. Gift of Marta Braun and Edward Epstein, 2023
Discover the New Braun-Epstein Collection
Nov. 4, 2025
The Braun-Epstein Collection of 7,800 photographs (19th–20th centuries) traces global travel imagery, tourism, and colonial attitudes—illuminating photography’s role in shaping cultural imagination worldwide. Acquired from Parisian flea markets between the 1950s and 1970s by American artist David Hill, the photographs were later preserved by Canadian photo-historian Marta Braun and photography dealer Edward Epstein, who generously donated the collection to the IMC.
More about the collection
The Braun-Epstein Collection comprises more than 7,800 photographs from the 19th and early 20th centuries, created by over 250 photographers and studios worldwide. It offers a vivid record of the thriving trade in travel imagery, purchased by people who wanted to remember their journeys, or experience distant places without ever leaving home. As leisure travel expanded with the rise of the middle class, so too did the popularity of “armchair tourism.” Photographs of landmarks such as the Taj Mahal, the Acropolis, or the canals of Venice were sold alongside other city views, landscapes, portraits, and reproductions of artworks. Bound albums and folios in the collection focus on places across Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. The photographs’ captions often reveal how geography and language have shifted over time, and some provide evidence of the 19th-century fascination with exoticism, reflecting the history and cultural attitudes of colonialism. The collection includes work by many prominent studios—Alinari, Beato, Bourne, Ferrez, and Nadar among them—and features a range of processes from albumen prints and photochromes to salted paper and carbon prints. Acquired from Parisian flea markets between the 1950s and 1970s by American artist David Hill (1914-1977), the photographs were later preserved by Canadian photo-historian Marta Braun and photography dealer Edward Epstein. Today, the Braun-Epstein Collection is an extraordinary resource for students, scholars, and the public, illuminating the intertwined histories of photography, tourism, and cultural imagination.
About The Image Centre
The Image Centre (IMC) is Canada’s leading institution dedicated to the exhibition, research and collecting of photography. Established in 2012 at Toronto Metropolitan University, in the heart of the city, the IMC welcomes visitors to explore the intersection of photography and culture. Through compelling exhibitions and engaging public programming, the IMC showcases work by emerging, renowned, and anonymous photographers, past and present. With a growing collection of nearly 400,000 photographic objects and an innovative scholarly research program, the IMC is also a vibrant hub for the preservation and study of photography. For more information, visit theimagecentre.ca.
About Toronto Metropolitan University
Toronto Metropolitan University, formerly known as Ryerson University, is Canada’s leader in innovative, career-oriented education. Urban, culturally diverse and inclusive, the University is home to more than 46,000 students, including 2,900 Master’s and PhD students, 4,000 faculty and staff, and 225,000 alumni worldwide. For more information, visit torontomu.ca.
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For media inquiries, please contact:
Kristen Dobbin, The Image Centre
kristendobbin@torontomu.ca