“From Country Elevator, Red River Valley, 1957” by John Szarkowski, via Lens Culture

I must have read somewhere, at some point, that John Szarkowski was himself a photographer, but it doesn’t seem to have registered with me at the time. So when Jeff Curto, in an episode of The History of Photography podcast, described Szarkowski as a “photographer in his own right”, and then followed it up with his photos, I was surprised. And I might say surprisingly so since I should have known already or at least somewhat expected it.

The reason for this fact finally sticking in my head is probably that this time I was presented with his photos and not just his name in connection with the photographs of others. Szarkowski the curator’s legacy – he was director of photography at The Museum of Modern Art in New York from 1962 to 1991 – hugely outweighs the legacy of Szarkowski the photographer, if that can be separated as easily as that. If it can’t, I guess it only makes his photos more interesting. I’d like to say that given examples such as the photo above, that Szarkowski the photographer could stand on his own without help from Szarkowski the curator. But, given just how much Szarkowski the curator has influenced how we look at photographs, I could very well be mistaken.

As an aside, if you haven’t heard of The History of Photography podcast, by Jeff Curto, before, I suggest you try watching an episode. As Curto describes the podcast himself, it “is recorded during class lectures for History of Photography, Photo 1105 at College of DuPage. The podcasts are intended as review for students in the class, but thousands of people around the world have found them useful to their education as photographers.”