Cuba, 1933 By Belinda Rathbone, excerpt from Walker Evans: A Biography, 2000 By the late 1960’s, the influence of Walker Evans on a younger generation of American photographers had proved to be as profound as it was subtle. For an artist who never sought disciples, Evans had acquired an extraordinary range of […]
“While Evans gave much effort to photographing poor people, their houses, rooms and the things they made, it is far from clear that poverty is the point of his best pictures.” By Leo Rubinfien, originally published in Art in America, December 2000 A traveling retrospective (2000) prompts the author to recall the austere formalist–and […]
“There are two ways of looking at a thing. Either you feel that a thing must be perfect before you present it to the public, or you are willing to let it go out even knowing that it is not perfect, because you are striving for something even beyond what you have achieved, but […]
Interview with Walker Evans Conducted by Paul Cummings in Connecticut, October 13, 1971 In New York City, December 23, 1971 PAUL CUMMINGS: It’s October 13, 1971 – Paul Cummings talking to Walker Evans at his home in Connecticut with all the beautiful trees and leaves around today. It’s gorgeous here. You were born in […]
“I was damn well going to be an artist and I wasn’t going to be a businessman.” Interview Excerpt from, Leslie Katz with Walker Evans, 1971. Leslie Katz: You took photographs of whatever interested you? Walker Evans: Oh yes. I was a passionate photographer, and for a while somewhat guiltily. I thought it was […]
Roadside stand near Birmingham, Alabama, 1936 “I didn’t like the label that I unconsciously earned of being a social protest artist.” “The Thing Itself is Such a Secret and so Unapproachable” George Eastman House, Image Magazine, Vol. 17., No.4, December, 1974, Originally Published in Yale Alumni Magazine, February, 1974. Walker Evans, the eminent American […]
“I’ve now taken up that little SX-70 camera for fun and become very interested in it. I’m feeling wildly with it. But a year ago I would have said that color is vulgar and should never be tried under any circumstances. It’s a paradox that I’m now associated with it and in fact I intend […]
Walker Evans, pictures taken from a moving automobile or train. EXPLORE ALL WALKER EVANS ON ASX (© Walker Evans Archive, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.)
Installation View of “Walker Evans: American Photographs” at The Museum of Modern Art, New York City, September, 1938. © Walker Evans Archive, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Young Couple in Parked Open-Air Car, Ossining, New York 1932-34 By Carter Radcliff, Originally Published in Tate Magazine, Issue 5, 2003 In 1932, Walker Evans photographed a young couple in a roadster parked at the curb in a small town somewhere in America. The top is down, giving the photographer and his subjects direct views […]
Gay Burke, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, October 28, 1973 As a collection, the Polaroids are remarkable in their consistent and determined attitude. They are bald presentations of individuals without mannerism or style and yet they are distinct, they are compelling, and their directness is palpable. By Jane Tormey, originally published in Afterimage, July 1, 2003 During […]