i had the opportunity to make it down to the Rochester Art Center today. the main show was a 50 year retrospective of potter Warren Mckenzie. the thing that blew me away about this show was the vastness of the collection. the thought that one man's hands could be responsible for each one of the vessels was overwhelming.
equally impressive as the show itself, was the book that the Art Center produced for the retrospective, which was housed in an impeccably rough pine slide box. while flipping through the book i found a nice photo of Warren and his wife, Alix, walking up the hill from their studio in Stillwater Minnesota. the photograph was credited to John Szarkowski, taken in the "early 1950s". I was unable to find a reproduction of the image online, but apparently the same photo was used in the book An American Potter, referenced before the book's production in the announcement of his 1999 McKnight Fellowship.
After graduating from the University of Wisconsin (art history) in 1948, Szarkowski was hired as the museum photographer for the Walker Art Center, and began making photographs for his book, The Face of Minnesota. Warren Mckenzie still lives, and throws clay, in Minnesota. He is 82.
Minnesota Public Radio has audio from a call in show, and photos of some of his work, here.
Showing posts with label writers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writers. Show all posts
Jul 10, 2007
Jul 9, 2007
Szarkowski
John Szarkowski, the preeminent currtor writer on contemporary photography, died on Saturday. Coincidentally, I bought a used copy of Mirrors and Windows the same day. I've been pouring over this book since then- lost in a brilliant collection of images by the best photographers of the 60's and 70's.
"The artists represented in this book are all, finally, concerned with the pursuit of beauty: that formal integrity which pays homage to the dream of meaningful life"
"As one approaches the present, it becomes progressively more difficult, and chancier, to identify with confidence those figures who have significantly revised our understanding of photography's potential"
It's safe, and appropriate, to say that few have influenced and effected our understanding more.
both quotes by John Szarkowski, from Mirrors and Windows
"The artists represented in this book are all, finally, concerned with the pursuit of beauty: that formal integrity which pays homage to the dream of meaningful life"
"As one approaches the present, it becomes progressively more difficult, and chancier, to identify with confidence those figures who have significantly revised our understanding of photography's potential"
It's safe, and appropriate, to say that few have influenced and effected our understanding more.
both quotes by John Szarkowski, from Mirrors and Windows
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