Walker Evans

Today, I decided to escape from my vacation. I needed to clear my head bigtime. I guess you can't blame me if you read my SOS Parents post. So, on a whim, I went to the Cincinnati Art Museum, and discovered a wonderful exhibition on the famous American photographer, Walker Evans. His career spanned 50 years from 1928 to 1973. Strangely enough, I had actually seen many of these snapshots before even discovering the name of the artist who had made them. They have really become part of our everyday culture, especially his series on the Great Depression (1933-1936). Evans produced several series on themes which took him several years to produce: 1930's Cuba, voyage through the south sea islands, Gothic revival houses, men's fashion in the 40's, factories in America, Chicago, and color accidents just to name of few. Most of these themes were originally comissioned to him by patrons, Fortune magazine, or even the US government. As you can see, his pictures filled with searing irony convincingly give insight into the realities of the different worlds he encounters on his voyages. Personally, what touched me most, which coincides with my current sullen mood of imminent tragedy, was his expressed intention to document and freeze forever realities which could disappear at any time (lower Manhattan row houses, painted stock cars, dilapidated old barns) as well give a voiced to silenced marginalized peoples on the wrong side of history. The American archetypes he is able to capture whether they be urban squalor or the fading opulence of the rural south immortalize him. Here, I have found many of his famous photos and just simply the ones that mark me most.
If you get to Cincinnati this summer, do go to see this exhibition at the Cincinnati Art Academy





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