Anyone interested in the history of photography, or for that matter; the history of America, should be well aware of one name: Walker Evans. Walker Evans is best known for his work done for the Farm Security Administration during the times of the Great depression.
Born in St. Louis, MO, Walker Evans III grew up in a privileged lifestyle. He attended private schools and even studied in Paris for a year before returning to the states to live in New York. Although he is best known for his photography, he liked to think of himself as a man of the books. Perhaps this is where Evans' love for creating a message in his photos comes from. One of the most powerful messages I took away from Baldwin Lee's lecture was simply, as Evans stated it: "looking is harder than it looks." Evans took this statement to heart in each and every one of his photos. Upon first glance you'll see a woman staring at the camera, a home crumbling to the ground, or shoes lined up under a sign reading "shine." It's easy to look at a photo for what it literally is, but Evans wanted to challenge the intelligence of his viewers. None of his photos were simply point-and-shoot. Each was painstakingly thought through to create the statement that Evans wanted to tell his viewers. The man was, simply put, a master of subtlety. Each photo he took had a plan behind it. One example that sticks out to me from Lee's lecture is a photo of a lone man. But when Evans took the photo, the man was standing with a group of people. He wanted just this one man, but he understood the natural reaction many people had, to be embarrassed in front of the camera. So he would take many photos, then edit them later. I believe this was his way of adding in the literary element he so loved, without actually having to write anything down.
Walker's trip to the south was a turning point for his career. The photos he took there are his best known and certainly most discussed. I imagine that it must have been incredibly difficult for him to leave the comfort of his home in a big city, and go to live with families in the deep south, during the middle of the depression era for six weeks. For someone who has lived in large cities their entire life (St. Louis, New York, and Paris) it would have to be a very strange and upsetting culture shock to suddenly live in such poverty with people who were unlike any he'd ever encountered before. After Lee's lecture was finished, there was a question about whether or not Evans had ever gone back to the homes he stayed in, or had ever gotten into contact with the families. The answer was no, absolutely not. For some reason, Evans had no desire to return to the places that made him famous, and no need to have some sort of contact with the people he photographed there. Baldwin Lee also stated that the on time Evans did return to the south for a lecture, he would only do so under the terms and conditions that he would not see or speak to any of the ancestors of the families he lived with. The families never heard from him again, quite possibly never saw their photos, and never received a copy of the book. This was one of the greatest questions I left with, why was he so against ever returning to the south, and seeing the people he photographed? Lee said we could make of it what we could, but I'm unsure of what to think. Research has gotten me no more further into finding an answer, so as Lee said, I can only assume what the reasoning could have been.
No matter the case, it still doesn't change the fact that Evans should most certainly be considered one of the great American photographers. His dedication to photography not only showing a moving image, but the detail he obtained through each photo, and the subtle but powerful statements he created are one of a kind.
-Sara Valinski-
http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/m/mellow-evans.html
"Walker Evans" Ch. 1, James R. Mellow
http://www.masters-of-photography.com/E/evans/evans_articles1.html
"Masters of Photography- Walker Evans" Walker Evans Archive, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Baldwin Lee, "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: Photos by Walker Evans" Artist lecture, UWEC, 11/12/2010
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