"It isn't what a picture is of, it is what it is about."
~ John Szarkowski
(1925-2007)
John Szarkowski (December 18, 1925 – July 7, 2007) was an American photographer and curator, best known as director of the Museum of Modern Art’s Photography Department from 1962 to 1991. He once said, “Photography is the easiest thing in the world if one is willing to accept pictures that are flaccid, limp, bland, banal, indiscriminately informative, and pointless. But if one insists on a photograph that is both complex and vigorous it is almost impossible.”
Szarkowski studied art history at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and worked as a museum photographer at the Walker Art Center before teaching photography in Buffalo. He later produced the photobook The Idea of Louis Sullivan(1956) while in Chicago. At MoMA, he helped launch the careers of Diane Arbus, Lee Friedlander, and William Eggleston, and published influential books including The Photographer’s Eye (1966) and Looking at Photographs (1973). After retiring in 1991, he returned to his own photography practice. His works are held in major collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
I had the great honor of hosting John’s last exhibition of his work in the gallery. He sadly passed away a few months later. One of my photographic heroes.
