Walker Evans
Walker Evans was a photographer who became influential through his subject matter. He made the commonplace feel poetic and exposed the world to the gritty elements of life. His most characteristic photos show daily American life during the second quarter if the 20th century, especially through its outdoor advertisements, descriptions of its vernacular architecture, the beginnings of its automobile culture, and its domestic interiors. I choose to showcase Evans due to his selection of subjects and how he frames them.
Evans came from an affluent family and in 1926 dropped out of college and arrived in Paris to launch a career as a writer. Though his life revolved around literature, he remained distant from the famous writers of the era like Murphy, Fitzgerald, and Hemingway. Evans said in an interview, "The thing that kept me from knowing the Americans was that I was anti-American. I was not fleeing them but I disdained the moneyed, leisured, frivolous, superficial American..." Walker felt but contempt for those "in love with the rich".
Abroad, Evans spent most of his time alone occasionally picking up a camera to document his immediate surroundings or his shadow against a wall. After returning to the United States, he began to dedicate more time to his hobby, and started to establish himself as a photographer. By the end of his long career, he had made himself one of the most important modernist photographers with images of architecture and everyday life. Writer Lincoln Kirstein, in 1933, described Evan's work as possessing a "tender cruelty" referencing his combination of a clear, realistic view of his subjects in an empathetic manner.
Evans came from an affluent family and in 1926 dropped out of college and arrived in Paris to launch a career as a writer. Though his life revolved around literature, he remained distant from the famous writers of the era like Murphy, Fitzgerald, and Hemingway. Evans said in an interview, "The thing that kept me from knowing the Americans was that I was anti-American. I was not fleeing them but I disdained the moneyed, leisured, frivolous, superficial American..." Walker felt but contempt for those "in love with the rich".
Abroad, Evans spent most of his time alone occasionally picking up a camera to document his immediate surroundings or his shadow against a wall. After returning to the United States, he began to dedicate more time to his hobby, and started to establish himself as a photographer. By the end of his long career, he had made himself one of the most important modernist photographers with images of architecture and everyday life. Writer Lincoln Kirstein, in 1933, described Evan's work as possessing a "tender cruelty" referencing his combination of a clear, realistic view of his subjects in an empathetic manner.
"Whether he is an artist or not, the photographer
is a joyous sensualist, for the simple reason
that the eye traffics in feelings,
not in thoughts."
Walker Evans
Truck and Sign (1930) is the first photograph of Walter Evans that I had ever seen. I viewed it in the Walker Evans American photographs installation at the MoMA a few weeks ago. It remains one of my favorites. The photo consists of laborers loading an enormous electric sign onto a truck yielding an enduring emblem of the Depression--for this I selected to share this photograph.
In 1933, Evans spent a month in Cuba taking photographs for the book The Crime of Cuba by Carleton Beals. The book aimed to expose the corruption of the current Cuban dictator and the unsavoury relationship he had with the USA. Evans intention, though, was to explore Havana developing his modernist approach to photography. As in his later work, poverty is visible and explored objectively rather than as propaganda.
“my idea of what a portrait ought to be: anonymous and documentary
and a straightforward picture
of mankind.” Walker Evans
Passengers
Like I discussed in the previous picture, the genuinity of this photo is what makes me enjoy it. I get the idea that these men are both on their way to their jobs. But not only that, that they work monotonously day after day. This monotony is strengthened by the fact that these men look so similar.