John Szarkowski
American, 1925–2007
House, Monticello, Minnesota
INV-7250
John Szarkowski
American, 1925–20071957
House, Monticello, Minnesota
John Szarkowski American, 1925–2007 →gelatin silver (developing-out-paper) prphotographic process
Date
1957
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
31.3 × 25.3 cm (12 3/8 × 10 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Gift of David C. and Sarajean Ruttenberg
Tremendously influential at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, where he was director of photography between 1962 and 1991, John Szarkowski also had an active career as a photographer, producing a book on the architecture of Louis Sullivan and a publication for the 1958 Minnesota centennial titled The Face of Minnesota. This image of a humble porch was included in the latter work, alongside photographs of residents, industry, vernacular architecture, and rolling landscapes to form a portrait of the state at 100. He wrote that he had “tried to show the land and its people and their work . . . to give a lively and an honest sense of what the place is really like.” Szarkowski’s unvarnished depiction of a home that is aging, yet preserved with dignity, hints at the character of its inhabitants.
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