Author Description

Originally published in 1973, this 1999 reissue, with new duotone separations using the latest technology, brings this remarkable book back to a new generation. 'This is a picture book, and its first purpose is to provide the material for simple delectation', says author John Szarkowski in his Introduction to the first survey of The Museum of Modern Art's Photography Collection. A visually splendid album, Looking at Photographs is not only a treasury of 'benchmark photographs', but also an introduction to the aesthetics and the historical development of photography. Since 1930, when the Museum accessioned its first photograph, a vast and unique archive of pictures has been assembled for study, preservation, and exhibition. Among the photographers reproduced and discussed here are works by Hill and Adamson, Cameron, O'Sullivan, Stieglitz, Steichen, Strand, Weston, Walker Evans, Cartier-Bresson, Lange, Brassao, Ansel Adams, Minor White, and Robert Frank. Some of these photographs are classics, familiar and well-loved favorites; but many are surprising, little-known works by the masters of the art, and a number are hitherto unpublished works by unknown photographers of the past.