Photographers Looking at Photographs: 75 Pictures from the Pilara Foundation

Collection Publication

In Photographers Looking at Photographs, 75 artists from the Pilara Foundation collection write about works they have selected from the collection. They were asked to draw inspiration from John Szarkowski’s seminal book Looking at Photographs: 100 Pictures from the Collection of the Museum of Modern Art (1973), a text that has influenced and educated generations of photographers.

The texts within Photographers Looking at Photographs epitomize the kind of close looking that Szarkowski championed while also reflecting wide-ranging perspectives and thoughts about photography. All of the contributing writers share a clear passion for understanding how photography intimately connects to our daily lives and perception of the world.

In addition to his lifelong practice as an accomplished photographer, John Szarkowski served as Director of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, from 1962 to 1991. He was an early champion of photographers such as Diane Arbus, William Eggleston, Lee Friedlander, and Garry Winogrand, many of whom are regarded as some of the most influential photographers of the twentieth century. Szarkowski authored a number of books during his career including The Photographer’s Eye (1966), William Eggleston’s Guide (1976), Mirrors and Windows: American Photography since 1960 (1978), and The Work of Atget: The Art of Old Paris with Maria Morris Hambourg (1982).  Looking at Photographs has been reprinted countless times over the years and is still considered an essential text for students of photography.

Edited and introduced by Allie Haeusslein
Contributing writers include Thomas Demand, Jim Goldberg, Paul Graham, Jackie Nickerson, Eva O’Leary, Catherine Opie, Stephen Shore, Alec Soth, and Jeff Wall, among others.

180 pages | 113 images | 13 x 11.25 in. | Hardcover | 978-1-59711-006-8

Edition of 1,200
Pier 24 Photography, 2019
Printed in the United States

60.00