House, Monticello, Minnesota

John SzarkowskiWW-1957-106241

1957·Gelatin silver print·31.3 × 25.3 cm (12 3/8 × 10 in.)

<p>Tremendously influential at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, where he was director of photography between 1962 and 1991, John Szarkowski also had an active career as a photographer, producing a book on the architecture of Louis Sullivan and a publication for the 1958 Minnesota centennial titled <em>The Face of Minnesota</em>. This image of a humble porch was included in the latter work, alongside photographs of residents, industry, vernacular architecture, and rolling landscapes to form a portrait of the state at 100. He wrote that he had “tried to show the land and its people and their work . . . to give a lively and an honest sense of what the place is really like.” Szarkowski’s unvarnished depiction of a home that is aging, yet preserved with dignity, hints at the character of its inhabitants.</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1957
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Dimensions: 31.3 × 25.3 cm (12 3/8 × 10 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: John Szarkowski

Artist

John Szarkowski

Photography

John Szarkowski was an American photographer and curator who fundamentally shaped postwar photography through his work at the Museum of Modern Art, where he served as director of the photography department from 1962 to 1991. His curatorial vision emphasized the medium's formal properties and inherent aesthetic autonomy, moving photography away from documentary utility toward fine art recognition. Szarkowski's landmark 1966 exhibition 'The Photographer's Eye' and subsequent acquisitions and exhibitions established MoMA's photography collection as canonical. His critical writing and exhibition design made him the dominant arbiter of photographic taste in the second half of the twentieth century.

Ashland, WI, USA

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