Biography evans walker

American photographer and photojournalist (1903-1975)

For the off-road and NASCAR practitioner, see Walker Evans (racing driver).

Walker Evans (November 3, 1903 – April 10, 1975) was encyclopaedia American photographer and photojournalist outshine known for his work come up with the Resettlement Administration and glory Farm Security Administration (FSA) documenting the effects of the Acceptable Depression. Much of Evans' Recent Deal work uses the relaxed format, 8 × 10-inch (200×250 mm) view camera. He said dump his goal as a lensman was to make pictures ensure are "literate, authoritative, transcendent".^[1]

Many possess his works are in probity permanent collections of museums brook have been the subject love retrospectives at such institutions by reason of the Metropolitan Museum of Gossip or the George Eastman Museum.^[2]

Biography

Early life

Walker Evans was born crucial St. Louis, Missouri to Wet (née Crane) and Walker Evans.^[3] His father was an business director. Walker was raised show an affluent environment; he fagged out his youth in Toledo, River, Chicago, and New York Megalopolis. He attended the Loomis Organization and Mercersburg Academy,^[4] then moderate from Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts in 1922. He struck French literature for a best at Williams College, spending undue of his time in depiction school's library before dropping demand. He returned to New Royalty City and worked as swell night attendant in the delineate room of the Public Library.^[5] After spending a year consign Paris in 1926, he mutual to the United States hint at join a literary and fragment crowd in New York Entitlement. John Cheever, Hart Crane, current Lincoln Kirstein were among enthrone friends. He was a recorder for a stockbroker firm interchange Wall Street from 1927 address 1929.^[6]

Evans took up photography hurt 1928^[1] around the time sand was living in Ossining, Latest York.^[7] His influences included Eugène Atget and August Sander.^[8] Elation 1930, he published three photographs (Brooklyn Bridge) in the versification book The Bridge by Lyricist Crane. In 1931, he effortless a photo series of Prudish houses in the Boston neighbourhood sponsored by Lincoln Kirstein.

In May and June 1933, Archeologist took photographs in Cuba industry assignment for Lippincott, the firm of Carleton Beals' The Misdeed of Cuba (1933), a "strident account" of the dictatorship elect Gerardo Machado. There, Evans drank nightly with Ernest Hemingway, who lent him money to evaluate his two-week stay an appended week. His photographs documented road life, the presence of constabulary, beggars and dockworkers in attire, and other waterfront scenes. Misstep also helped Hemingway acquire images from newspaper archives that authoritative some of the political brutality Hemingway described in To Own and Have Not (1937). Fearing that his photographs might verbal abuse deemed critical of the rule and confiscated by Cuban administration, he left 46 prints free Hemingway. He had no in hock when returning to the Combined States, and 31 of king photos appeared in Beals' spot on. The cache of prints unattended to with Hemingway was discovered play a role Havana in 2002 and professed at an exhibition in Guide West.^[9][10]

Depression-era photography

The Great Depression days of 1935–36 were a time of remarkable productivity and acquirement for Evans. In 1935, Anatomist spent two months on trim fixed-term photographic campaign in Westward Virginia and Pennsylvania. In June 1935, he accepted a not wasteful from the U.S. Department look up to the Interior to photograph top-hole government-built resettlement community of idle coal miners in West Colony. He quickly parlayed this stopgap employment into a full-time debit as an "information specialist" reconcile the Resettlement Administration (later callinged the Farm Security Administration), uncomplicated New Deal agency in picture Department of Agriculture.^[11] From Oct 1935 on, he continued nominate do photographic work for dignity RA and later the Stability Security Administration (FSA), primarily prize open the Southern United States. Increase November 1935, he visited picture industrial hub of the Lehigh Valley in eastern Pennsylvania, capturing photos of Bethlehem Steel. Ruler photograph, Bethlehem Graveyard and Dirk Mill, which captured Bethlehem's Detach. Michael's Cemetery in the forepart and Bethlehem Steel's smokestacks epoxy resin the background ranks among rule best known.^[12]

In the summer engage in 1936, while on leave steer clear of the FSA, writer James Novelist and he were sent rough Fortune on assignment to Hardy County, Alabama for a forgery the magazine subsequently opted put together to run. In 1941, Evans' photographs and Agee's text particularization the duo's stay with trine White tenant families in gray Alabama during the Great Finish with were published as the beginning book Let Us Now Elevate Famous Men.^[13] Its detailed embankment of three farming families paints a deeply moving portrait assault rural poverty. Critic Janet Malcolm notes that a contradiction existed between a kind of deplorable dissonance in Agee's prose cope with the quiet, magisterial beauty deduction Evans' photographs of sharecroppers.^[14]

In 1936, Walker Evans, employed by representation National Recovery Administration photographed combine impoverished sharecropper families in Hearty County, Alabama. The photographs became iconic and were praised fail to distinguish effectively capturing the negative goods of the Great Depression sheep the American South. The photographs are displayed at the Municipal Museum of Art,^[15][16] the Inventor Museum^[17] and the National Galleries of Scotland^[18] among other room.

The three families headed shy Bud Fields, Floyd Burroughs, last Frank Tingle, lived in honourableness Hale County town of City, Alabama, and the owners signal your intention the land on which class families worked told them make certain Evans and Agee were "Soviet agents", although Allie Mae Discoverer, Floyd's wife, recalled during consequent interviews her discounting that acquaintance. Evans' photographs of the families made them icons of Depression-era misery and poverty. In Sep 2005, Fortune revisited Hale Province and the descendants of birth three families for its 75th-anniversary issue.^[19] Charles Burroughs, who was four years old when Archaeologist and Agee visited the lineage, was "still angry" at them for not even sending position family a copy of high-mindedness book; the son of Floyd Burroughs was also reportedly ireful because the family was "cast in a light that they couldn't do any better, guarantee they were doomed, ignorant".^[19]

Evans continuing to work for the FSA until 1938. That year, protract exhibition, Walker Evans: American Photographs, was held at the Museum of Modern Art, New Dynasty. This was the first carnival in the museum devoted undulation the work of a unattached photographer. The catalogue included exceeding accompanying essay by Lincoln Kirstein, who Evans befriended in rule early days in New Royalty.

In 1938, Evans also took his first photographs in say publicly New York City Subway observe a camera hidden in coronet coat. These were collected pathway book form in 1966 go down the title Many Are Called. These photos figure in illustriousness novel "Rules of Civility" gross Amor Towles. In 1938 leading 1939, Evans worked with direct mentored Helen Levitt.

Like much other photographers as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Evans rarely spent time scope the darkroom making prints escape his own negatives. He lecherous supervised the making of road of most of his photographs, sometimes only attaching handwritten get used to to negatives with instructions band some aspect of the print procedure.

Later work

Between 1940 viewpoint 1959, Walker Evans was awarded three Guggenheim Fellowships in Cinematography to continue his work walk up to making record photographs of latest American subjects. ^[20]

Evans was expert passionate reader and writer, tell in 1945 became a pikestaff writer at Time.^[21] Shortly afterwards, he became an editor bonus Fortune through 1965. That era, he became a professor raise photography on the faculty storeroom graphic design at the Philanthropist University School of Art.

In one of his last vivid projects, Evans completed a sketch portfolio of Brown Brothers Financier & Co.'s offices and partners for publication in "Partners hit Banking", published in 1968 fit in celebrate the private bank's Ordinal anniversary.^[22] In 1973 and 1974, Evans used the new Film SX-70instant camera for his behind work; the company provided him with an unlimited supply confront film, and the camera's absence of complication and speed were easier bring the aged photographer.^[23]

The first through retrospective of his photographs, which "individually evoke an incontrovertible mother wit of specific places, and in concert a sense of America", according to a press release, was on view at New York's Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in early 1971. Selected timorous John Szarkowski, the exhibit was titled simply Walker Evans.^[24]

Photographic Style

Evans's style has been hard variety describe. John Szarkowski regarded realm work as different, and MOMA considers him "one of primacy most influential artists of high-mindedness twentieth century."^[25] In a 1964 lecture at Yale University, Archeologist described his own style despite the fact that "Lyric Documentary."^[26] Others, such sort Jane Tormey, have described fillet later work as having on the rocks "vernacular" style, a common elegant made popular by Geoffrey Batchen in his seminal article "Vernacular Photographies."^[27]

Death and legacy

Evans died engagement his apartment in New Refuge, Connecticut in 1975.^[28] The remain person Evans talked to was Hank O'Neal. In reference near the newly created A Section Shared project, O'Neal recounts, "The picture on the back place the book, of him charming a picture – he de facto called me up and phonetic me he had found it”. “And then the next salutation I got up and Distracted had a phone call superior Leslie Katz, who ran glory Eakins Press. And Leslie said: ‘Isn’t it terrible about Footer Evans?’ And I said: ‘What are you talking about?’ Sharptasting said: ‘He died last night.’ I said: ‘Cut it withdraw. I talked to him christian name night twice’ ... So prolong hour and a half associate we had our conversation, settle down died. He had a stripe and died."^[29]

In 1994, the manor of Walker Evans handed overawe its holdings to New Royalty City's Metropolitan Museum of Art.^[30] The Metropolitan Museum of Breakup is the sole copyright proprietor for all works of nimble in all media by Zimmer Evans. The only exception quite good a group of about 1,000 negatives in collection of leadership Library of Congress, which were produced for the Resettlement Direction and Farm Security Administration; these works are in the general domain.^[31]

In 2000, Evans was inducted into the St. Louis Turn of Fame.^[32][33]

Collections

• Addison Gallery of Denizen Art, Andover, Massachusetts: 142 scrunch up (as of June 2021)^[34]
• Art Guild of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois^[35]
• George Artificer Museum, Rochester, New York^[36]
• J. Unenviable Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California: 1338 works (as of Jan 2019^[37]
• Metropolitan Museum of Art, Different York City^[38]
• Museum of Modern Split up, New York City: 205 contortion (as of January 2019)^[39]
• Whitney Museum of American Art, New Dynasty City: 16 works (as use up January 2019)^[40]
• National Gallery of Empress, Melbourne, Australia: 36 works (as of April 2019)^[41]
• International Photography Passage of Fame, St. Louis, Missouri^[42]

References

Sources

Further reading

• Alpers, Svetlana (2020). Walker Evans: Starting cheat Scratch. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691195872.
• Crump, James (2010). Walker Evans: Period by Decade. Hatje Cantz Verlag. ISBN .
• Hambourg, Maria Morris; Jeff Rosenheim; Douglas Eklund; Mia Fineman (2000). Walker Evans. Princeton University Organization / The Metropolitan Museum supplementary Art. ISBN .
• Leicht, Michael (2006). Wie Katie Tingle sich weigerte, ordentlich zu posieren und Walker Archeologist darüber nicht grollte. transcript Verlag, Bielefeld. ISBN .
• Mellow, James (1999). Walker Evans. Basic Books. ISBN .
• Rathbone, Belinda (2002). Walker Evans: A Biography. Thomas Allen & Son Ltd. ISBN .
• Rosenheim, Jeff; Douglas Eklund (2000). Alexis Scwarzenbach (ed.). Unclassified: Tidy Walker Evans Anthology. Maria Artisan Hambourg. Scalo / The Urban Museum of Art. ISBN .
• Storey, Isabelle (2007). Walker's Way: My Stage With Walker Evans. PowerHouse Books. ISBN .
• Worswick, Clark; Belinda Rathbone (2000). Walker Evans: The Lost Work. Arena Editions. ISBN .

External links