Before that time he had received two Guggenheim Fellowships for his own photography, had been given exhibitions by the Walker Art Center, the George Eastman House,and the Art Institute of Chicago, and had published two books of his photographs--The Idea of Louis Sullivan and The Face of Minnesota--to critical and popular acclaim. From 1962 until retiring from the museum in i99i, he made no effort to exhibit or publish his work.

In this retrospective of the beautiful and uncommonly graceful photographs of John Szarkowski, the most revered photography curator and critic of our time, the hidden half of a lifetime of work is finally given the attention that it deserves.

In 1962 John Szarkowski accepted the position of director of photography at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Before that time he had received two Guggenheim Fellowships for his own photography, had been given exhibitions by the Walker Art Center, the George Eastman House,and the Art Institute of Chicago, and had published two books of his photographs--The Idea of Louis Sullivan and The Face of Minnesota--to critical and popular acclaim. From 1962 until retiring from the museum in i99i, he made no effort to exhibit or publish his work. Now his work from his first twenty years as a photographer and that since resuming his life as a photographer is published in this splendidly printed volume. Published in conjunction with a major touring retrospective exhibition originated by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the book is confirmation that Szarkowski is first and foremost a photographer.

Accompanying the photographs are excerpts from a lifetime's correspondence--often witty, always revealing--giving a glimpse of Szarkowski's perspective on life and photography. Curator Sandra S. Phillips contributes a critical essay. John Szarkowski: Photographs is an eloquent and heartfelt book on the work of a man who has truly devoted his life to photography.

THE PHOTOGRAPHS

CHRONOLOGY

SZARKOWSKI THE PHOTOGRAPHER

LIST OF PLATES

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS