Until the 21st Century Tate was not interested in photography apart from in the narrowest 'fine art practice' sense of a particular kind (such as when used as a record of a performance) and so for Simon to assert 'we’re always making sure that you see photography in relation to the history of art' is a sad reminder of that past failure of lack of vision - photographers and curators in other countries were re-writing what art itself could be in photography's own terms. Fortunately the work that gets shown at Tate now often ignores that pre-requisite - phew! - and the nod to Daisuke Yokota (great tip, thanks) is reassuring, as is for being a cheap photobook fiend generally.

MoMA had photographers to establish their collections over half a century ago, so there's some catching up to do. Szarkowksi gave an unknown Eggleston a show on the basis of flicking through the slides he had in his case, I believe. But the reality is that Tate will only show big names (Taryn Simon was established as stated above), it would take almost superhuman curatorial self-belief to showcase an unknown, too risky.

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Until the 21st Century Tate was not interested in photography apart from in the narrowest 'fine art practice' sense of a particular kind (such as when used as a record of a performance) and so for Simon to assert 'we’re always making sure that you see photography in relation to the history of art' is a sad reminder of that past failure of lack of vision - photographers and curators in other countries were re-writing what art itself could be in photography's own terms. Fortunately the work that gets shown at Tate now often ignores that pre-requisite - phew! - and the nod to Daisuke Yokota (great tip, thanks) is reassuring, as is for being a cheap photobook fiend generally.

MoMA had photographers to establish their collections over half a century ago, so there's some catching up to do. Szarkowksi gave an unknown Eggleston a show on the basis of flicking through the slides he had in his case, I believe. But the reality is that Tate will only show big names (Taryn Simon was established as stated above), it would take almost superhuman curatorial self-belief to showcase an unknown, too risky.

PeteMc , Photographer , 21/11/13 , 137 AP
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