The Walker Evans exhibit in the foster gallery is really a treat to behold. Having so many famous photographs from such a great photographer that was so influential in his documentation of the poverty down in the south right in front of my eyes. One observation from the visiting the exhibit is the amount of time I as well as others spent at each photograph. The photographs contain so much information that I think Walker Evans wants us to find, that it definitely takes more than a minute of looking to see. Even then, during Baldwin Lee's lecture, Lee pointed out that the sheets on the bed of one of the photographs had flies on it, which was something I had missed. Baldwin Lee also stated in Walker Evans' photographs "were made with thought, consideration and reflection," but I also find an amount of separation. Lee spoke of how after being graciously taken in by the sharecroppers' families and after the publication of the photographs, Evans never returned to share the photos with them. I found an article titled, "Walker Evans and photography" written about an exhibition of Walker Evans' photographs stating that "Walker Evans furiously denied that there was an element of 'nostalgia'" in his photographs. I would think that keeping emotionally detached especially because the purpose of his photographs were not for his own personal use but were originally intended to show the government the way the impoverished people during the depression were living. Remaining objective, allowed him to see things with a clarity that might be clouded by emotional involvement and showing the true reality. Lee included in his lecture the coined phrase, "Looking is harder than it appears" and Walker Evans truly had a way of seeing the small details to include in his photos to make them great.
My second observation is mainly surrounded by something that Baldwin Lee said is his lecture about how Walker Evans knew the breaking point between aspirations and reality. Pointing out how the person who had collected the cardboard not only for insulation but also for decoration. Noting that this "artist" is attempting to create their own collage is something that I would have never had thought. The idea of not only dreaming of a better life or money but a life where this person could even make a living being an artist. The reality that the collage will not only provide insulation meets the aspirations of the artist because the cardboard is also part of a work of art. What the photographer chooses to put in the frame of the camera is what determines the photograph. The way Walker Evans chose to frame the photo that included the cardboard posters was a statement that the viewer not only has to look at the photo very closely to see the details but also look at the subject in a way to see what is truly being photographed. The people that Walker Evans photographed allowed him to take a snapshot of some of their most intimate parts of their lives, they were very vulnerable, and he not only showed their poor living conditions but a strength through their vulnerability that may not be apparent at first glance. Using special techniques to convey the person a certain way especially in regards to the sharecropper's wife photo where he used a flash to open up the features of her flash and illuminate a hope in her eyes. It all depends on how the photo is taken and the manipulation of the subject or the camera itself to get the photo. I found both the exhibit and the lecture very interesting especially the anecdote of how Walker Evans got the older Cuban man to pose in a group but Evans really only wanted a portrait of him. Learning the personal tricks of a master photographer is something I will cherish and possibly use in the future.
Works Cited
Baldwin Lee, "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: Photos by Walker Evans" Artist lecture, UWEC- Foster Gallery, 12 November, 2010.
Walsh, David "Walker Evans and photography" World Socialist Web Site, accessed 12 November, 2010. http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/mar2000/evan-m03.shtml
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