In 2022, Northern Arizona University announced that Muench had donated his photographic legacy to Cline Library Special Collections and Archives (SCA). Regionally known for his numerous contributions to Arizona Highways magazine, as well as his collaborations with the National Park Service, Muench’s commercial success took him and his camera around the globe.
The SCA’s new exhibit, David Muench: The Allure of Light, provides a glimpse into the photographer’s decades-long career. The exhibit’s title references Muench’s signature approach to landscape photography, which he summarized in Arizona Highways’ December 2015 issue as “the idea of light defining the image.” NAU student Niko Bare, SCA’s 2025 Elizabeth M. and P. T. Reilly intern, applied his keen sense of aesthetics to selecting photographs for inclusion in the exhibit. A landscape painter himself, Bare is pursuing a degree in studio art with minors in museum studies and art history. Bare worked alongside SCA staff to design the layout of the physical exhibit, which includes three original framed photographs created by Muench.
The exhibition will be on display in Cline Library’s SCA gallery until August 2027.
To learn more about Muench and the landscapes he documented, visit the David Muench: The Allure of Light exhibit in person or online at the SCA exhibits website.