James Agee, Helen Levitt, John Szarkowski
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A little over a year ago, John Szarkowski gave a fairly lengthy interview to Art in America. It was around the time of his retrospective and publication of related books and he was doing the rounds, which is sort of funny to think about considering who he is. In any case, in that interview, he says that James Agee’s essay at the start of Helen Levitt’s 1946 book A Way of Seeing is probably the best piece of writing on photography ever committed to paper. As soon as I read that, I went on eBay and secured myself a copy.
I haven’t read nearly enough of these to come to a conclusion on whether or not it’s the best but it certainly is an interesting read. I scanned it, so give it a look and hopefully a discussion will follow. Perhaps you other photography bloggers out there will share some of your hard to find essays.
April 15th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
heya…great to finally see someone interested in the theoretical part of photography aesthetics. But unfortunately, I really didn’t like it that much. The idea of that so-called fake objectivity in photography is something that has been floating about in the art theorists scene for ages and this guy doesn’t seem to explore it quite that much. Then again, I didn’t like Susan Sontag (”on photography”) that much and I think it’s very sinful to say that in the world of photography.
Walter Benjamin, for instance, wrote in his “The Artwork in the times of its technical reproduction” about just that, photography’s affinity to reality which in turn lends itself a political power. His idea of art is closely tied together with societal change after the industrialisation. And after all they just brought out a book on his writings called on hashish…you can imagine what that was about.
Another good guy to look out for is Roland Barthes, who has some interesting ideas and though he can be a bit too obsessive about the appliance of certain theories (such as semiotics) onto photography/any other subject of study he’s into.
Nuff said, sorry if I bored ya!
Lam
April 18th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
I think it’s important to keep in mind when it was written. The idea of objectivity was a very modern idea which has been thoroughly displaced. But I think Szarkowski is still right about this being a tremendous piece of writing nonetheless because some of the other themes are still prescient.
Obviously, Barthes is a giant.
Thanks for commenting!
April 18th, 2007 at 8:48 pm
When was it written? Didn’t realise it wasthat old…
Btw, you gonna be in NYC? I’ll be there from aug 6th, if not even earlier.
April 18th, 2007 at 10:30 pm
1946. i’ll be getting to new york some time around then, i think.