In 1962 John Szarkowski accepted the position of Director of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Before that time he had received two Guggenheim Fellowships for his own photography, had been given exhibitions by The Walker Art Center, The George Eastman House and the Art Institute of Chicago and had published two books of his photographs to critical and popular acclaim.

From 1962 until retiring from the Museum in 1991, he made no effort to exhibit or publish his work. Now his work from his first twenty years as a photographer and that since resuming his life as a photographer is presented in this splendidly printed volume. Published in conjunction with a major touring retrospective exhibition, the book is confirmation that Szarkowski is first and foremost a photographer. Accompanying the photographs are excerpts from a lifetime's correspondence - often witty, always revealing - giving a glimpse of Szarkowski's perspective on life and photography.