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- <text id=89TT0585>
- <title>
- Feb. 27, 1989: From The Publisher
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1989
- Feb. 27, 1989 The Ayatullah Orders A Hit
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- FROM THE PUBLISHER, Page 4
- </hdr><body>
- <p> Among the millions of photographs taken every day, a select
- few will rank as great photojournalism. An even tinier category
- will merit appreciation as fine art. Those are the images that
- intrigue associate editor Richard Lacayo, who serves as TIME's
- photography critic besides writing in the magazine's Nation
- section. Years before Lacayo decided to pursue an English major
- at Cornell, he became fascinated with photography when he
- picked up a secondhand volume of Henri Cartier-Bresson's work
- at a neighborhood bookshop on New York's Long Island. "I was
- about 14 years old," says Lacayo, "and I didn't know a thing
- about photography. But Cartier-Bresson's images of street life
- needed no explanation. They drew me in."
- </p>
- <p> Ever since, Lacayo has appraised photographic styles ranging
- from the dark documentary stills of Robert Frank to the robust
- portraiture of Lisette Model. This week he reviews "The Art of
- Photography: 1839-1989," a sweeping survey of the form's history
- at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. Says he: "This show will
- impress upon people the sheer variety of the art. There's
- nothing mechanical about it."
- </p>
- <p> After earning a degree from Columbia's Graduate School of
- Journalism in 1977, Lacayo began a seven-year free-lance career
- during which he wrote about theater, film and TV for the New
- York Times and other publications. Since joining TIME in 1984,
- he has contributed to nearly every section of the magazine.
- During a three-year stint as the Law section writer, he found
- time to profile author Susan Sontag and survey Hispanic culture
- for TIME's special issue on that topic.
- </p>
- <p> Lacayo has moonlighted as the photography critic since 1986,
- when he helped persuade TIME's editors that the magazine should
- devote more coverage to the art. His wide choice of subject
- matter has included the off-center visions of Garry Winogrand
- and the embracing eye of LIFE's Alfred Eisenstaedt. Yet Lacayo
- prefers to make his own impressions with words rather than film.
- "I don't take photographs," he notes. "I take snapshots." After
- all, when he wants to look at enduring images, all he needs to
- do is reach for that beat-up old Cartier-Bresson volume that he
- still keeps close at hand.
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
-
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