Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Walker Evans

"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]

Walker Evans [1903-1975] An american photographer... portraying a realistic view of the poverty-stricken rural south, revolutionized the standards of documentary photography.

Check out some of his photos ... click here ...

"Walker Evans: America Photographs" was held in Museum of Modern art [MOMA] New York. it was the first exhibit in this museum devoted to the work of a single photographer.

He is best known for his work for Farm Security administration [FSA]. In 1935-36 he created a series of images of plantation houses in Mississippi and Louisiana, complemented by photographs of US Civil War Monument. In late 1930's he famously used hidden camera to photograph commuters in New York subway. In 1940-50 he worked for Time and Fortune magazines.

"Evans's contribution was rooted in an attention to the everyday: small-town main streets, modes of transportation, the American people themselves, the places they called home, and the monuments that told their history, as well as the signs and storefronts that advertised and sold the products they used.... Together these photographs suggest a consistency in representing American visual culture and are the foundation of the American photographic tradition that continues today.
Reference: Walker Evans: Before and After, click here ...

"The camera is merely a tool, like a pen or a paintbrush, and it too, expresses the intentions of its possessor. This being said, Evans' talent was his ability to make images that speak for themselves. Evans photgraphs seem to exist as historical moments in time, hard-edged facts--not interpretations; thus the viewer responds to the image itself--to the contents within it--not to the photographer's construction of it." Reference: Walker Evans, click here ...

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