Status
Available
Call number
Publication
New York : London : Museum of Modern Art ; Thames & Hudson [distributor], 2007.
Description
The Photographer's Eye, available again after some years out of print, offers a guide to the medium's visual language through works by such early masters as Atget, Cartier-Bresson, Evans, Strand and Weston. In this re-issue, 172 illustrations reveal the extraordinary range of the photograph from the early days of the medium's development to the mid-1960s. They are accompanied by an essay from Szarkowski, one of the most influential photography curators and critics of our time.
User reviews
LibraryThing member TadAD
This is a reprint of John Szarkowski’s book about the unique characteristics of this medium and what makes a photograph what it is. Szarkowski was the Director of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art in New York for thirty years and his chosen images, all black and white, are taken from a show
Perhaps the most interesting aspect is that he takes the adage of “show not tell” literally: each point he wants to make has just a few sentences of text but pages of photographs that he thinks illustrate his concept in some manner or another. So, on the subject of Time he might offer you everything from a Mathew Brady iconic Civil War image emblematic of a specific period, to a Harry Callahan multiple exposure conveying the bustle of Detroit, to a Robert Doisneau pair evoking things lost and forgotten.
It’s a collection that makes you think about what you’re looking at as well as allowing you to enjoy the works a wildly diverse group of photographers ranging from the famous to the unknown.
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done in 1964.Perhaps the most interesting aspect is that he takes the adage of “show not tell” literally: each point he wants to make has just a few sentences of text but pages of photographs that he thinks illustrate his concept in some manner or another. So, on the subject of Time he might offer you everything from a Mathew Brady iconic Civil War image emblematic of a specific period, to a Harry Callahan multiple exposure conveying the bustle of Detroit, to a Robert Doisneau pair evoking things lost and forgotten.
It’s a collection that makes you think about what you’re looking at as well as allowing you to enjoy the works a wildly diverse group of photographers ranging from the famous to the unknown.
Show Less
Language
ISBN
9780870705274