Phil Davis and John Szarkowski

Man, nothing but the sound of crickets chirping around here, for which I apologize. I'm still quite sick, and there have been some possible complications that are absorbing a lot of my time and concern.

Phil Davis
I'm sorry to note two recent deaths. First, I learned recently that my friend and one-time mentor Phil Davis passed away in June. Phil was one of the Contributing Editors of Darkroom & Creative Camera Techniques magazine when I arrived there as Editor. It wasn't long before he had become the de facto Technical Editor of the magazine, although he never accepted the title. He refused it for a typically Davisonian reason—he didn't want to be held accountable, even tangentially, for some of the technically less rigorous articles we published. Experimental rigor was always Phil's middle name. He ran endless experiments in his Ann Arbor studio/darkroom, often testing contentions and assertions that cropped up in the magazine or in online discussions on the old CompuServe Photography Forum. His own articles, most of which centered on aspects of applied sensitometry, were models of decorum and restraint, setting forth his experimental investigations with scholarly probity.

It was behind the scenes that things got more lively. For more than seven years Phil and I kept up a daily correspondence by email, beginning when I was Editor at PT and surviving my tenure there for several years. Phil was a very accomplished man—a pilot, University professor, textbook author, professional photographer serving the automobile industry, scientist—and he had strong opinions about a lot of things. Most fascinating were his accounts of the experiments he ran for his own edification, but wouldn't write up for the magazine. He once worked for weeks to prove to his own satisfaction (and mine, I might add) that the supposed benefits of pyro developers where wholly illusory, but he wouldn't publish the results because he couldn't prove them for more that a few conditions, and he didn't want to get caught up in controversy.

I hadn't heard from Phil much in recent years—he brought our correspondence to a close around the time he got sick with prostate cancer. He was certainly a remarkable individual, who always deserved to be better known in photographic circles than he was, a situation that came about because of his unyielding refusal to compromise or popularize. He was certainly one of the most interesting people I've ever known, and I will always be grateful for our friendship.

John Szarkowski
The New York Times obituary of former MoMA Photography Director John Szarkowski gets going with a bit of a howler, when it reports the pronunciation of his name as "Shar-COW-ski." That was not how he pronounced it to me. I first received an introduction to Mr. Szarkowski in 1988 from Walter Elisha of Springs Industries, a business school protegé of my grandfather's who was for a time the largest benefactor of the Photography Department, and met him for the first time at the Museum when I was barely out of photography school. From then on, a couple of times a year the phone would ring. "John shar-KOFF-ski here," he'd say, and off we'd go on a sleigh ride over whatever ground was consuming his interest at that moment. Most conversations would end with an assignment: he wanted to know if I could find something or someone for him, or some fact. He never did purchase a print of mine for the Museum or for any of the private collections he curated or helped curate, but I'm happy to say that I was able to bring several photographers to his attention whose work he did purchase.

I saw him for the last time when he spoke at his own show at the Milwaukee Art Museum a year or two ago. He gave a very charming talk, and the show—essentially the retrospective portfolio of a lifetime—gleamed in its burnished presentation. Although he seemed the picture of health at the time, it all had the air of nicely tied-off loose ends. A couple of months ago I heard he had suffered a massive stroke; those close to him expected him to die sooner than he did.

I have written about John Szarkowski several times, most notably in my essay "Photography's Quiet Giant." I hope those of you who haven't read that will take this occasion to do so.

_____________

Mike

Comments

[Scott]

A very interesting article. Have your criticisms of either Szarkowski or Winogrand in any way changed given the changes in photography over the last 15 years?

[Dennis]

Mike - sorry to hear about your own health issues that are lingering ... wishing you a speedy & tidy recovery from it !

[Chris Lane]

Mike,

Hope you get better real soon.

Chris

[Mitch Alland]

Mike, that's a fantastic essay on Szarkowski and it's easy to say "I wish you did more of these", but so difficult to produce something of this quality. One thing that I do wish you would write about, however, is the idea or function of emotion in a photogarph. The idea on this that I have in my own phtograohy is that emotion has to come out of form, form being the most basic element of a picture: if a photographer is thinking primarily about emotion or mood, at an even lower level, in my view, he will tend to produce shallow or sentimental pictures. People who look at a picture and say "it has no emotion" drive me round the bend.

Any chance you could address this issue in an essay?

—Mitch/Potomac, MD

[Antonio Dias]

Mike:

I'm sorry to hear you are still dealing with your health. I wish you fast recovery.

A. Dias

[Richard Alan Fox]

I met John Szarkowski once in 1979 at a print drop off at the MOMA. I was in my last year of graduate school at San Francisco State University, studying photography with Jack Welpott and Don Worth, both gentlemen of the view camera on a tripod school.
My own work at the time can best be described as shaking Panatomic-X in a Nikon F and previsualizing the one second blur. My prints were 16x20 Portriga Matte with the big bite marks of the filed out negative carrier, dust and scratches and out of focus corners were evident in each print, I thought (and still think) that they were just the most beautiful and perfect prints, and I left dozens of them in a silver taped case.
To say that I felt my work approached the forefront of visual consciousness, might explain where I was coming from (on a jet plane from Haight Street to Fifth avenue), I left the prints at the door and came back the next day.
When I came to pick the case up Mr. Szarkowski came out to greet me, he had chosen one print out of the many to purchase for the Museum’s permanent collection, I came up with the price of three hundred dollars, and in a few weeks a check was in the mail.
Reading his NYTimes obituary the quote "In the past decade a new generation of photographers has directed the documentary approach toward more personal ends, their aim has been not to reform life but to know it" was just so true and so poignant these twenty eight years later. For the few minutes that I met him I do want to cast a vote in his favor as a kind and perceptive man whose purchase of a print from left field was meaningful act in my life.
Thank you John.

[Dennis fairclough]

Mike, your article about Szarkowski really was a great piece of writing. You certainly have the chops sir! I dont know a damn thing about the man but I plan to find out. Nice going.
Regards, Dennis F. Noggerup.

PS Hope you're back on your feet soon. We miss your erudite take on the world. If I may be so bold re your health. For your immune system can I suggest the following:

Cocnut oil. 2-3 tablespoons daily. (Put it on your toast like butter). Contains lauric acid (lots in breast milk!)which will kill bugs and boost your thyroid a little.
Selenium. 50-100mcgs daily. Good antioxident
and will also assist thyroid.
Zinc. make sure you're getting plenty. Essential for many processes, including immune system. Best with Vit.C.
Resveratrol. Great for celluar function and excellent AO. Keep taking this well after you're well... the fat white mice did very well indeed on this!
Spirulina. Lots of micronutrients
Omega 3. 2-3000mgs daily. Good for cellular function and general health. Will keep that excellent brain in tip top order.
PSS AllStarHealth is a good place to get these at competitive prices if you take the plunge.

[DarkPenguin]

Get well soon, Mike.

It didn't really sound like "just a virus."

[Dwight Jones]

Don't feel bad about taking time for your personal needs. We'll still be here when you get back.

[dyathink]

yes, please take really good care of yourself..nothing is more important than your health because without that you can do nothing at all..Regarding Mr. Szarkowski, as a friend of mine said of his passing, "God is dead, long live Peter Galassi"

[Gary Wagner]

I have read all of the books by Phil Davis many times and feel as if I know him personally. I am very sorry to hear of his passing.

[jeff lamb]

i was a student of prof davis, in 1974-76
i am sorry to hear this news. may i quote you and the kind and true things you have said of of prof. davis