http://lookingaround.blogs.time.com/2007/07/09/john_szarkowski_19252007/ Reflections on art and architecture by TIME critic Richard Lacayo. Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:42:34 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 http://lookingaround.blogs.time.com/2007/07/09/john_szarkowski_19252007/comment-page-1/#comment-88 Norman Bringsjord Thu, 09 Aug 2007 21:09:21 +0000 http://lookingaround.blogs.time.com/2007/07/09/john_szarkowski_19252007/#comment-88 I was a struggling photographer in 1971 when I got a job at Time Magazine (copy boy). Through their generous tuition refund program, I was able to study in private workshops with Diane Arbus and Garry Winogrand. John Szarkowski was the only light in a dark world for artists trying to define the medium as an art form... the photograph as an object about something rather than a picture of something (I'm paraphrasing Nathan Lyons). As I now edit my old negatives (see url below) I can really see his influence. I was a struggling photographer in 1971 when I got a job at Time Magazine (copy boy). Through their generous tuition refund program, I was able to study in private workshops with Diane Arbus and Garry Winogrand. John Szarkowski was the only light in a dark world for artists trying to define the medium as an art form... the photograph as an object about something rather than a picture of something (I'm paraphrasing Nathan Lyons). As I now edit my old negatives (see url below) I can really see his influence.

]]> http://lookingaround.blogs.time.com/2007/07/09/john_szarkowski_19252007/comment-page-1/#comment-87 Tod Papageorge Tue, 10 Jul 2007 02:44:34 +0000 http://lookingaround.blogs.time.com/2007/07/09/john_szarkowski_19252007/#comment-87 Thank you for this thoughtful, personal appraisal of John Szarkowski. It IS impossible, at this point, to understand how profoundly he shaped several generations of photographers, and even the rise of the art/photography gallery. Those Postmodernists you mention owe their very studios to John's great influence as a eloquent promulgator of the notion of photography as an independent art--a fact that might surprise many of them even as it must have rankled John. Thank you for this thoughtful, personal appraisal of John Szarkowski. It IS impossible, at this point, to understand how profoundly he shaped several generations of photographers, and even the rise of the art/photography gallery. Those Postmodernists you mention owe their very studios to John's great influence as a eloquent promulgator of the notion of photography as an independent art--a fact that might surprise many of them even as it must have rankled John.

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