Lectura recomendada. Looking at photographs John Szarkowski
Los libros sobre fotografía y fotógrafos son muchos y de todo tipo de enfoque. La mayoría de ellos nos informan de la vida del fotógrafo, la relación de sus exposiciones y, si el fotógrafo vive, alguna conversación con él sobre su obra.
Que yo conozca son muy escasos, raros incluso, los libros que nos enseñan a ver y entender la fotografía, ambas cosas conducen a enseñarnos a valorar artísticamente la fotografía como obra de arte
De hecho, de este tipo, solo conozco uno "Sobre la fotografía" de Susan Sontag.(On Photography)
Pues bien ahora puedo decir que hay otro libro excelente sobre este tema
Looking at Photographs by John Szarkowski
Nota :(Como siempre señalo esto es una opinión personal. Es obvio que habrá muchos más libros que yo no conozca sobre este tema)
Este libro, en inglés, nos comenta 100 fotos de manera breve.
Al abrir el libro vemos a la derecha la foto y a la izquierda el comentario. Notaremos lo primero de todo que, casi, no habla de la biografía del autor mas allá de un par de renglones. Nos habla de la foto, su entorno, lo que vemos, lo que debemos ver y, muy importante la sitúa en su época.
Por supuesto hay que señalar, y lo recoge el propio autor, que la inmensa mayoría de las fotos comentadas son de autores americanos pero eso no es óbice para que sea, repito, un excelente libro sobre fotografía.
Y, como anécdota, comenta varias fotos anónimas. Esto es importante, todo coleccionistas tiene fotos, que en su propia opinión, son excelentes fotos anónimas. Pero muy pocos críticos se atreverían a incluir fotos anónimas en un libro sobre fotografía basado en solo 100 fotos.
El libro sólo lo he encontrado en Amazon
Looking at Photographs: 100 Pictures from the Collection of The Museum of Modern Art
Sobre su vida y obra merece la pena leer la necrológica que publicó el New York Times
John Szarkowski, Curator of Photography
en ella leemos, por ejemplo,
....“One might compare the art of photography to the act of pointing,”
Mr. Szarkowski wrote. “It must be true that some of us point to more
interesting facts, events, circumstances, and configurations than
others.”
He added, “The talented practitioner of the new
discipline would perform with a special grace, sense of timing,
narrative sweep, and wit, thus endowing the act not merely with
intelligence, but with that quality of formal rigor that identifies a
work of art, so that we would be uncertain, when remembering the
adventure of the tour, how much our pleasure and sense of enlargement
had come from the things pointed to and how much from a pattern created
by the pointer.”......
En (google translate)
Books on photography and photographers are many and of all kinds of approach. Most of them tell us of the life of the photographer, the ratio of its
exhibitions and, if the photographer lives, any conversation with him
about his work.
I know very few, rare even books that teach us to see and understand photography, both artistically lead to teach us to appreciate photography as art
In fact, this, I only know one, "On Photography" by Susan Sontag. (On Photography)
Well I can now say that there is another excellent book on this subject
Looking at Photographs by John SzarkowskiNote (As I always point this is a personal opinion. It is obvious that there will be many more books I do not know about this)This book, in English, tells us briefly 100 photos.When you open the book see on the right picture and left the comment. We note first of all that, almost, not about the biography of the author beyond a few lines. Picture speaks, their environment, what we see, what we see and most important places in his day.Of course it should be noted, and includes the author, that the vast majority of the photos are of American authors discussed but that does not prevent it, I repeat, an excellent book on photography.The only book I found was on AmazonLooking at Photographs: 100 Pictures from the Collection of The Museum of Modern Art
About his life and work you can read the obituary in the New York TimesJohn Szarkowski, Curator of Photography
it read, for example,
.... "One Might compare the art of photography to the act of pointing," Mr. Szarkowski wrote. "It must be true That some of us point to more interesting facts, events, circumstances, and configurations than others."
I added, "The talented practitioner of the new discipline would perform with a special grace, sense of timing, narrative sweep, and wit, just thus endowing the act not Merely With intelligence, but With That quality of formal rigor That Identifies a work of art , That we would be so uncertain, When remembering the adventure of the tour, how much our pleasure and sense of enlargement HAD eat from the things pointed to and how much from a pattern created by the pointer. ".....
I know very few, rare even books that teach us to see and understand photography, both artistically lead to teach us to appreciate photography as art
In fact, this, I only know one, "On Photography" by Susan Sontag. (On Photography)
Well I can now say that there is another excellent book on this subject
Looking at Photographs by John SzarkowskiNote (As I always point this is a personal opinion. It is obvious that there will be many more books I do not know about this)This book, in English, tells us briefly 100 photos.When you open the book see on the right picture and left the comment. We note first of all that, almost, not about the biography of the author beyond a few lines. Picture speaks, their environment, what we see, what we see and most important places in his day.Of course it should be noted, and includes the author, that the vast majority of the photos are of American authors discussed but that does not prevent it, I repeat, an excellent book on photography.The only book I found was on AmazonLooking at Photographs: 100 Pictures from the Collection of The Museum of Modern Art
About his life and work you can read the obituary in the New York TimesJohn Szarkowski, Curator of Photography
it read, for example,
.... "One Might compare the art of photography to the act of pointing," Mr. Szarkowski wrote. "It must be true That some of us point to more interesting facts, events, circumstances, and configurations than others."
I added, "The talented practitioner of the new discipline would perform with a special grace, sense of timing, narrative sweep, and wit, just thus endowing the act not Merely With intelligence, but With That quality of formal rigor That Identifies a work of art , That we would be so uncertain, When remembering the adventure of the tour, how much our pleasure and sense of enlargement HAD eat from the things pointed to and how much from a pattern created by the pointer. ".....