What you did'nt see...

I must admit my first visit through the Walker Evans exhibit on “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men” left me in turmoil. I believe Walker Evans somehow would love to know that he was successful by emanating this kind of emotion from his viewers, I believe this is certainly part of what he intended. The use of “skillful poetry” on the part of James Agee only further helped evoke this emotion from me. These images are very powerful to anyone who can relate or empathize with poverty. The images are haunting, it seems as though the families depicted are sad, depressed, beaten down by life, and I am sure these are emotions that plagued them every day. However,after hearing Baldwin Lee speak and confess how Walker Evans carefully chose which photos to include in this collection of “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men” just shows how clever Walker was as an artist. In fact there where many images taken by Evans that he could have chosen to expose for this collection, but many of these photos were never to be seen by anyone but the artist himself. What was chosen were those that captured the darkest of emotions on the faces of these families. Upon further exploration of Evans photographs of these subjects, I discovered endearing moments that we did not get from the exhibit. It leaves me to wonder how many photos Evans actually kept to himself and of the secrets he may also have kept that we may never know.

While poverty is evident, what is also evident is that these families and their children had moments of laughter and character Evans chose to exclude from the viewer. These photos capture how even in hard times, children still play and have fun, families manage to smile and have tender moments with their children. They gather together and somehow get through the hardships....and while poverty is apparent, so is the human spirit. Here are two photos not shown in the exhibit. One is of the Burroughs children playing in the yard, the other of Lily Rogers Fields and her children. I enjoy the smile of the mother and the child on the floor looking as though he is enjoying a bit of fun and laughter, which is hidden behind his arm, but still very much apparent. It shows a mother and her children enjoying a most endearing moment.