SZARKOWSKI, John. The Face of Minnesota, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1958. Hardcover (pictorial cloth), 10-¼ x 7-½ inches, 304 pages, 203 halftone illustrations (some in color), dustjacket. Signed. This book was published on the occasion of the centennial of Minnesota statehood in 1958. Szarkowski had been the staff photographer at the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis) and was soon to become curator of photographs at New York's Museum of Modern Art. He arranged his photographs and text about Minnesota's people, places, and events, in four groups; the setting of the state's story, settlement and life on the land, social institutions, and commerce. Not surprisingly, his photographic style is decidedly straightforward, the aesthetic he persistently championed at MOMA. Reportedly, the first edition consisted of ten thousand copies and the 1964 reprint was 4,000. Laid into this copy is the text of the 1956 memorandum of agreement between the author and the publisher. This copy boldly signed by Szarkowski. Very good condition, in worn and torn dustjacket.

VG