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The Photographer's Eye | 
| Author: John Szarkowski
Creators: Lee Friedlander, Walker Evans, William Klein, Paul Strand
Publisher: The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $16.22
You Save: $8.73 (35%)
New (23) Used (8) from $15.41
Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 28239
Media: Paperback
Pages: 156
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 8.4 x 0.5
ISBN: 087070527X
Dewey Decimal Number: 779
EAN: 9780870705274
ASIN: 087070527X
Publication Date: March 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The Photographer's Eye by John Szarkowski is a twentieth-century classic--an indispensable introduction to the visual language of photography. Based on a landmark exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art in 1964, and originally published in 1966, the book has long been out of print. It is now available again to a new generation of photographers and lovers of photography in this duotone printing that closely follows the original. Szarkowski's compact text eloquently complements skillfully selected and sequenced groupings of 172 photographs drawn from the entire history and range of the medium. Celebrated works by such masters as Cartier-Bresson, Evans, Steichen, Strand, and Weston are juxtaposed with vernacular documents and even amateur snapshots to analyze the fundamental challenges and opportunities that all photographers have faced. Szarkowski, the legendary curator who worked at the Museum from 1962 to 1991, has published many influential books. But none more radically and succinctly demonstrates why--as U.S. News & World Report put it in 1990--"whether Americans know it or not," his thinking about photography "has become our thinking about photography."
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 Photography as Art December 5, 2008
K. Holte
Since the beginning of photography, the medium's position as art has been questioned. Much of this skepticism resides in the belief that anyone can make a photograph, whereas a painting takes talent to create. However, the photographer knows better than this. The Photographer's Eye is a collection of photographs from an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in which John Szarkowski articulates the elements intrinsic to photography that qualify the medium as an important part of art history.
Szarkowski emphasizes the word `make' when describing the process of creating a photograph. While the traditional and most common phrase to describe this process has always been "to take a picture" Szarkowski's change in vocabulary reflects his belief that decision-making is the core of the photographic act.
Photography has many similarities with traditional fine art. Photography is only different in the way it addresses these components. Working with a process that has a physical relationship with reality means that instead of simply synthesizing a cohesive composition as with a painting or drawing, a photographer selects what is visible as well as what is excluded from the frame. Both processes are based on artistic decisions.
Photographers active participation in the creation of their art is something that connects their medium to other fine art. The Photographer's Eye examines a selection of work that embodies and clarifies John Szarkowski's understanding of this participation.
 An Interesting Read July 25, 2008
Dan Milham (Slidell, La)
This book is instructive by way of example. It has not a lot of text but many interesting photographs in categories. The categories reflect the photographic or artistic value of the chapter.
Disappointing July 1, 2008
NDT (Sydney Australia)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I was expecting a book of photographs with accompanying essays on their artistic merit. According to the write up and the first review. I received the book only to find its a collection of mainly classic photographs but mainly well-known photographers, with virtaually no notes, this was quite disappointing. I might also add there are better compilation type photography books on the market.
Smart to have but not A MUST to ... April 5, 2008
Carlos G. Bruno
Once it's not a deep study about B&W pictures - only an abridge of a few very known photos - it is very smart to have in your photography' shelf(ves), but not A MUST to have it.
Definely it's a very good work material for professionals/teachers because there is no explanations why the picture became famous, so, beginners just will fall in love about them by intuition, leaving the technical aspects to be explained/understood later.
Could be 4 stars if it'd more pictures.
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