Anne Wilkes Tucker Comments on Photography

Anne Wilkes Tucker, curator of photography at the Houston MFA, spoke in Atlanta last week and had some interesting comments about photography and collecting:

On collecting:
"Buy for the front of the picture, not the back." (in quoting John Szarkowski)
"You have to know what to expect from an artist; the standards are not universal."

On the wide spread use of digital processes:
"For some people, it is too big of a candy store."
"The [direct] line between the  'snap' and the print is evaporating."

On photographic truth:
"Photographic truth is something that isn't even talked about anymore."
"There is an acknowledgment that the world of imagination is as worthy of serious attention as is anything else out there." (paraphrased)

On a portraitist's role:
"To find the psychological moment where something is revealed that appeals to the viewer."

The one question she would like museum goers to ask themselves:
"Why are these two pieces of art hanging next to each other?" (spoken like a true curator!)