Walker Evan's photographs in Let Us Now Praise Famous Men depicts the life of a rural Alabama sharecroppers in 1936. Their conditions were obviously meager, and Evans made sure to show all aspects of their lifestyle. The portraits were very telling of the personality of the sharecroppers and their families, but Baldwin Lee offered insight into many pictures that I had over passed. The picture of the wall with the silverware was one that I had breezed by without a second thought, but when Lee drew connections to the photograph in his presentation, I got a better idea as to why this photo was taken. Silverware is most commonly in a drawer, kept clean and neat, but in this image they are stuck in a niche on the wall, very disheveled. There are more spoons than forks, leaving someone without a utensil at dinnertime. This doesn't seem like a huge deal to a modern individual, but to this particular family, it was probably a huge problem.
Having looked at the picture as a scenario rather than simply a scene helped me gain important insight to the photos. What was a room with a wash basin, a table, and a lamp, is now everything this family had. It's the effect the great depression had on this honest family of farmers. The parent's bed, neatly made, is still a haven to the flies that infest every room of the house. I believe that viewing a photograph’s details, then putting the photograph into action helped me see a whole new side to this documentary. It went from being a documentary to being a story. Baldwin Lee was instrumental in this discovery, if he had not pointed out the subtleties I had overlooked, the entire exhibit would not have evoked the same response.
-Madeleine Foster
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