Inspiration

Let Us Now Praise Famous Men is the title of the exhibit shown in the Gallery at our college, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. It contains images that Walker Evans, and his assistant Baldwin Lee, produced during the Great Depression, specifically of three families that were struggling in Alabama during that time. I find these photographs moving. Evans was able to capture something that I don’t think many people are able to, pure emotion. He presents these individuals as being vulnerable. It allows us to feel what they are probably feeling.

Walker Evans is claimed to have been and still is, one of the most influential photographers of all time. As Evans did in this exhibit, he was known for being able to capture something that most photographers were unable to, expressions. He knew how to capture what people were feeling in a raw sense, not a made-up expression, but rather in the moment.

With being one of the most influential photographers of all time, he inspired many well-known artists as well. He inspired Helen Levitt and Robert Frank to Diane Arbus, Lee Friedlander, and Bernd and Hilla Becher, just to name a few.

Robert Frank was one of those photographers that were deeply inspired by Evans. Frank was also another influential photographer specifically his work titled The Americans. He was also known, like Evans, for being able to capture the pure emotions of people. The Americans included photographs that he had captured, showing the emotions of the citizens of the United States during 1959, including emotions such as isolation, social tension, and separation.

Bernd and Hilla Becher were other photographers that were also moved by Evans work. This German couple influenced conceptual photography. They documented the industrial landscape post war. They as well influenced many photographers after their time as well, including Thomas Demand, Candida Höfer, Thomas Ruff, and Andreas Gursk.

It’s amazing that so many photographers, let alone artists, inspire one another. It’d be interesting to see where the world would be today if people would have never been inspired. You wonder if Walker Evans would have never inspired so many of those photographers, if they would have ever picked up a camera, and made the beautiful work that they actually made.

Sources:

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/evan/hd_evan.htm

http://www.metmuseum.org/special/Few_Are_Chosen/street_more.htm

http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=10951

Katie Nelson