Welcome to the Curious Eye
I love photography and I love thoughtful writing on photography.
I’ve spent a lifetime in communications, but as I transition from working for others to working to please myself, I intend to use this site to share my thoughts and my photographs.
These are personal pictures. Most have no commercial value. I hope that a handful have artistic value, but at a minimum I hope they are interesting to look at.
Photography Book Archive
I am gradually trying to build an archive of brief summaries and reviews of photography books that others can use if they are curious about the art of photography.
If you are looking for “how to” books, you won’t find many here. But, if you are interested in the history of photography as a means of personal expression, and the criticism of such, there is a good chance you will find this interesting.
Book Reviews and Posts
Diane Arbus and the New Documents Exhibition
In 1967, the Museum of Modern Art in New York unveiled “New Documents.” It featured the work of three photographers who would became significant and influential artists of the 20th Century – Diane Arbus, Lee Friedlander and Garry Winogrand. It was the only major exhibition of Arbus’ work in her lifetime. Unfortunately, no exhibition catalogue was published at the time. Fifty years later, MOMA rectified that, producing an excellent book on the show.
Esther Bubley and Marion Post Wolcott
Many Americans are familiar with Dorothea Lange’s “Migrant Mother” image from the Farm Security Administration, but fellow FSA and Office of War Information photographers Marion Post Wolcott and Esther Bubley are, unfortunately, much less known.
Carrie Mae Weems: A Great Turn in the Possible
Carrie Mae Weems may be the most interesting photographer practicing today. Not the most interesting Black Photographer nor the most interesting Woman Photographer, but simply the most interesting photographer.
Looking at the beautiful catalogue (Carrie Mae Weems: A Great Turn in the Possible) created for the European exhibition of Weems’ work, sponsored by Fundación MAPFRE, I had a similar reaction to the first time I saw Robert Frank’s The Americans, back in the 1970s.
Black is Beautiful: Kwame Brathwaite
Black is Beautiful, tells the story of Kwame Brathwaite. Few photographers can lay claim to helping change ideas surrounding human beauty.
But, Kwame Brathwaite could legitimately be credited with playing a major role in not only redefining beauty, but in promoting Black empowerment.
