It's rather odd, but John Szarkowski is a photographer.
Odd, because the 30-year Director of the Photography Department at the Museum of Modern Art is one of the most influential curators in photography's history, and one of the best writers ever to turn his hand to the subject.
As an artist, the more-or-less 80-year-old Szarkowski jokes, he's had an early period and a late period, and he intends to get started on his middle period soon.
It should go without saying that he has a good eye. Well, he does. And he's been resolutely shooting film with large cameras in the 15 years since he retired—his late period—and, I would suspect, having the prints made under his direction by the best custom printers. (I doubt he does his own printing.)
It should also go without saying that he knows how to put together a show. Well, he does. So you take a good eye, big negs, expert printing, in beautiful frames, ordered intelligently on gallery walls...I just can't see how any photographer wouldn't enjoy seeing this. Although not in the essential category, it's definitely the kind of show you really have to see firsthand to appreciate. I saw it in Milwaukee when it visited the Calatrava addition, and was even a little surprised by how eye-pleasing it was. John Szarkowski, photographer—who knew?
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