In January 2011, Chris Boot joined the organization as its director. Boot has previously been an independent photobook publisher and worked with Magnum Photos and Phaidon Press.[1] Sarah Meister, curator of photography at the Museum of Modern Art from 2009 to 2020, was named as Boot's replacement in the Executive Director position in January 2021,[2] starting in May 2021.[3]
Books
Aperture Foundation is a publisher of photography books, with more than 600 titles in print. Its book publication program began in 1965, with Edward Weston: The Flame of Recognition, which became one of its best-selling titles.[4] Some, like Diane Arbus: An Aperture Monograph, have been in print for 40 years.[5] Aperture supports the efforts of other non-profit organizations by partnering on books, exhibitions, and educational programming.
Aperture/Michael E. Hoffman Award
In 2003, the Foundation instituted the first Aperture/Michael E. Hoffman Award, in memory of Michael E. Hoffman (died 2001), who was Aperture's publisher for 37 years.
The Paris Photo–Aperture PhotoBook Awards is a yearly photography book award that is given jointly by Paris Photo and Aperture.[6] It is announced at the Paris Photo fair and was established in 2012.[7] The categories are Photography Catalogue of the Year, PhotoBook of the Year and First PhotoBook (with a $10,000 prize).
Aperture Portfolio Prize
The Aperture Portfolio Prize is an annual international competition to discover, exhibit, and publish new talents in photography.[8]
In 2005, Aperture’s three-thousand-square-foot gallery opened in New York’s Chelsea art district.[4] Many of the shows travel to venues in the U.S. and abroad. Aperture's Chelsea gallery showcases exhibitions organized by sister institutions.
Aperture has exhibited shows including Nazar: Photographs from the Arab World; Joan Fontcuberta: Landscapes Without Memory; William Christenberry, Photographs: 1961–2005; A Couple of Ways of Doing Something, images by Chuck Close, poems by Bob Holman; Lisette Model and Her Successors; and the Lucie-nominated Invasion 68: Prague, photographs by Josef Koudelka.[4]