An appreciative look at the work made by the eminent curator before and after his time at MoMA. Most of us first saw and tried to decipher that tongue twister of a last name when coming across his writings in one of the MoMA catalogs (for me it was reading his descriptions of Atget’s photographs).

But who was the photographer, already a two-time Guggenheim Fellow, that landed that job at MoMA in 1962? With the large gap between bodies of work, what does it mean to give your creative energy over to something larger than yourself, and how might that be something those of us who teach need to keep at heart?

Note: Even among people who counted him as a friend or worked with him for years pronounce the last name slightly differently. I’ve settled on
“Shar-coff-ski” based on how a close friend of his always pronounces it, though I noticed in the New York Times obituary they said “shar-COW-ski”, so you decide.

I featured some portraits of Mr. Szarkowski in the presentation by these photographers (in order):

• Lee Friedlander (title photo and through car window)
• Dan Budknik (installing show at MoMA)
• Jerome Liebling
• Andre Kertesz (with eye on wall)
• Richard Avedon (classic Avedon white background)
• Lee Friedlander (jumping w/Garry Winogrand; With Poodle; On the Farm; With 4x5 Camera)
• Greg Coniff (Sitting on porch at the farm)

The Books
The Idea of Louis Sullivan
The Face of Minnesota
Mr. Bristol’s Barn: With Excerpts from Mr. Blinn’s Diary
John Szarkowski: Photographs
Kindergarten Chats by Louis Sullivan

Thank you to Geoffrey James for joining and sharing some stories about John. Here is the book that Geoffrey mentions that Szarkowski suggested he read
Travels and Traditions of Waterfowl by H.A. Hochbaum