I would first and foremost like to disclose the fact that I am in no way an art expert. I know very little about art interpretation, and I do not find pleasure in searching for the endless meaning that can be buried in a piece of artwork. I am however an admirer of people, I look at every person in hopes of seeing what is in their soul. I was able to do just that while visiting the Walker Evens exhibit "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men". The beauty that I found there was breathtaking. While listening to the lecture given by Baldwin Lee, I sat on the floor in the midst of what felt like a book of American history made up of no words but only pictures. Baldwin Lee quoted Walker Evens as saying "Looking is harder than it looks", which I'm sure was in reference of how he framed a picture with his lens, but to me meant so much more. To me this quote made me realize that some people do not have the capability of looking upon others with an empathetic eye, they can not sense despair in their fellow man.
The photos in the exhibit were extremely invasive. The men and women had worry in their brow. The pictures were so real that tears were brought to my eyes. The children in the photographs showed a sad innocence in their eyes, but their faces were full of hope and promise. The pictures captured perfectly a quote made by James Agee; Walker Evans' partner in this particular project. "In every child born, under no matter circumstances the potentiality of the human race is born again. And in him too and in each of us our terrific responsibility toward human life."
Time and torture create an art, not as pristine, precise or perfect as the new and un-weathered but an art with character, charm and charisma. I was deeply moved by the experience with "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men". Often we read something, hear something or even say something and it is quickly disregarded or forgotten, but if we see it and I mean really see it, it is forever burned as truth in our minds, hearts and souls.
Stace Williams

Coming from a wealthy background, Walker Evans attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts and graduated in 1922. He continued his education in literature by attending Williams College, a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts until1923. Evans, before his photography started, furthered his schooling studying more literature at the Sorbonne, which is part of the University of Paris. Studying at such prestigious schools, Evans was building on the knowledge that would make his photographs so impressive. Evans did not start taking photographs until 1928 when he was 25. Shortly after Evans teamed up with scholar, Lincoln Kirstein who attended Harvard University at that time. What amazes me the most about Walker Evans is the amount of education he had and the role that literature played in his work. The photos that Evans took were so specific of the ideas that he wanted to portray. Each photograph, if looked at more carefully than a glance, reveals a larger more meaningful message. It was his education, wisdom, and cleverness that really made his photographs great. They had more meaning than a document and were meant to have a lasting impression on the viewer. Evans provoked thought in his viewers and I believe he had a much higher level of thinking than many photographers in history. He had a unique way of seeing things and composing his photographs with precision. When Baldwin Lee talked of Evans’ collection, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, this amazing level of seeing was truly displayed. Walker Evans was a photographic genius and as a result he became professor of photography at Yale’s School of art and architecture. I loved the idea that Evan’s was inspired by literature, which is not always associated with art. Walker Evans’ photographs were highly educated. It was his education that made his photographs so clever, ironic, thought provoking, and original.

Ryan Kann

Baldwin Lee, "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: Photos by Walker Evans" Artist lecture, UWEC- Foster Gallery, 12 November, 2010.

Biography/Chronology of Walker Evans. http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug97/FSA/chrono.html

Photographs not as Documentation

The question that Baldwin Lee first answers in his presentation of Walker Evans' work was: "Are these photographs documentary?" Baldwin tells us Evans cringed at this statement; he never considered himself a documentary photographer. When at first viewing the exhibition, one cannot help but feel these photographs are documents of the Depression era. What is it that makes us feel something is documentary? Perhaps seeing a portrait of someone that is not portrayed formally, or maybe we know so much historical facts about this part of history that a photograph is just there to support it, thus making it a document of history. I have heard some claim the black and white makes a photograph feel like a document...maybe because they connect that with newsprint.

The question I ask is, can any photographs such as these be documentary? When I look at a photograph, the element of documentation often is there; in photographs of moments in the past and true landscapes, I find a sense of documentation because this photograph must have some truth. But as an artist, I know that it is just as possible for this photograph to be manipulated in order to enhance the artist's intent and invoke a certain response. Evans does not deny he skews the photograph to portray certain ideas. The first example Baldwin points out for us is Chester Bowls, the landlord. My first impression of this photograph was of his wrinkled suit coat. I wondered why he was photographed in wrinkled clothes if he was someone profiting. Baldwin exclaimed "he (Walker) wanted him to look like a buffoon!" That is why we cannot call it documentary.

The images to follow: the house with cardboard insulation, the shoe shine wall, the bed with flies are all images that makes us see the truth of what it was like to live then and there. The key is that Evans made choices about how and what we see. He was aware of his choices and was certain to utilize the images to create a certain message. This does not make the photograph any less impactful; what it does is makes us see. A passerby, scanning these photographs with no sense of what happened in these homes, would perhaps look and keep walking, but never see. As Baldwin emphasized, Evans wants us to realize that “seeing is harder than it looks” and the same goes for the viewer. Artists use manipulation and make choices about what we see so we can see. In that regard, one can appreciate that the photographs are not mere documents, but tools to catch the viewer’s attention to an issue that is obviously worth seeing.

-Biz Jurecki

I find it interesting when someone will tell me they never would have noticed something about an artwork if someone hadn't pointed it out to them. As an artist, myself, there are seldom any artworks that I could look at and analyze details accurately. Why do people who do not study art, but consider themselves to appreciate art, not notice the subtle meanings of the work? Does it matter if they do? Perhaps they are the better judges of artwork? When looking at the work of Evans in this exhibition, I say they are the viewers that interest me the most- those who claim to not know about art.

Art students are not taught the answers when looking at work. Sure, we are guided in directions of why an artwork is famous and are taught tools of analyzing and criticising work. But we see things that go beyond what is right in front of us because we have been trained to interpret, explain, and analyze how and why we feel about an artwork. Often during gallery talks and artist discussions, someone will say "I don't know anything about art stuff but..." and offer their input or question. I feel their responses to the work is extremely important and valuable.

Baldwin Lee explains to us that Evans created these images to make us a feel a certain way, to believe what he wants us to. I think he wants us to believe what he saw. The way he did this, may have taken extra manipulation and artistic eye. He may have had to incorporate little details such as the flies on the bed and three balls of cotton falling off the porch, to add to the effect of the image. I sense the "aha" moment in people "non-art" when they are pointed this out. Maybe they think the photograph means more to them now. To me, the important reaction is their first.

A lot of Evans work is about little subtleties he uses to enhance the meaning of the photograph. But those subtleties are not the most important part. The wholistic response is what Evans seems to be looking for. A quote that interested me was:

"I work rather blindly, and I don't think an awful lot about what I am doing. You are using your eyes all the time."

Evans means he is using his artistic eye naturally. When he says he uses his eyes all the time, he is always critically aware of the way something is portrayed. I think his eyes are doing the work for us and he knew we would have to feel a certain way when we look at his work.

The first reaction to an image is the best one. I find the "non-art" people to be the most honest. When a friend of mine first saw the exhibition, she said "I cannot believe how people had to live." Her reaction, without any insight from Baldwin Lee, was just as the exhibition is meant to invoke. Having the insight from the lecture makes us think about why our reactions are a certain way and the little things Evans did to get us to that point. Something any viewer must always ask themselves is why they feel that way without being told to feel that way.

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

regretful to say the least

Through reading through many of the blog entries thus far I have come to the conclusion that I may have been forced to make a decision that I will deeply regret. Last Friday I was required to attend a mandatory field trip, thus leaving behind one of the most insightful lectures I could have experienced in my academic career. All that I can really go off of is what my peers found important or insightful, which is greatly about the relationship that Baldwin Lee had with Walker Evens and how Evens passed on his tips and tricks.
One of the most reoccurring quotes from the lecture is that "looking is harder than it looks." To me, even the vague comprehension that my peers have of what this truly means is still far beyond true understanding. How are we to know what the artist is truly finding in their own work? Yes, we have these pieces of Evans that have been preserved in his apprentices, but these are only the things he talked about. These are only the things he said. So now, we all have this deeper understanding of why Evens took the images he did and why he tried to make certain images work on a larger scale than others, but will we ever know what he saw when he was “looking”? Is it possible to assume that what he captured with his camera is what he saw? All of the little details are embedded into his work, and unless you’re really looking for it, you’ll miss them completely. Is this also true for the project as well, its purpose? Did Evans try to capture this little detail of American Life that was so embedded into the landscape to the point that you wouldn’t take notice unless you looked so closely that your eyes and mind and heart became strained?
I can scour the Internet for days and still not be able to replace the experience that I was forced to miss out on.

--Cameron Stoeger

Let Us Now Praise Famous Men

"As your body grows bigger

Your mind grows flowered

It's great to learn

Cause knowledge is power!"

Knowing things makes a person interesting. An interesting person makes for good conversation. We are about to have a conversation. It is a monologue between me the writer and you the reader. What thoughts come to mind when thinking about the Great Depression? Perhaps a history or economics professor was lecturing on it in class. Or maybe not a whole lot. Depending on what you know it may change how you view the Great Depression. Walker Evans took photographs of 3 white tenant families in Alabama. Looking at the photographs one can gather that life was difficult to be a sharecropper during the Great Depression. Until looking at these photographs I did not really think about how life was different in the south compared to the north. More rural life versus the urban setting. The photographs of the people look almost sad and downtrodden. The houses that these families lived in were bare and were only the necessities to survive. Seeing life that makes me appreciate the things I have. How I had toys to play with instead of forks and spoons. These photographs remind me of the book "How the Other Half Lives" written by Jacob Riis. "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men" and "How the Other Half Lives" are both photographs of people living in poor living conditions. The photographs are very interesting and I did find the exhibition very worthwhile. Looking at photographs now usually people say "smile" or "say cheese!" before taking the photograph. I did not see a single smile. The thought put into the photographs is amazing. There are many photographs I found myself thinking about. In the exhibit there were very thought provoking images. A few that stuck out was the shoe shining place. This was very interesting once the pair of black shoes was pointed out. Also the slang definition of shine was used as derogatory term for African Americans. I was wondering how accurate this photograph was and if certain things were placed to convey ideals. I also then realized how the south viewed racism. Not only was the depression hard on everyone, African Americans must have had it even harder. This is very relevant to the history of photography because if we take a look back to early history of African Americans they were slaves and now we have Barrack Obama as president. There have been great leaps in overcoming social and racial differences in society.

Andrew Buchanan

Works Cited:

http://www.tenant.net/Community/Riis/title.html

http://www.schoolhouserock.tv/

Adam Couture - Cast Light

Walker Evans and James Agee were one of those rare men who took a hard truth to accept and that we tried our best to ignore and asked us to look at a photograph that appeared ordinary and to look deeper beyond its face value. What he showed us was a picture that unveiled an unconscious living history of the people who lived during the era of the Great Depression and exposed them to the reality they had blinded themselves to. Evans the photographer, was able to spoon feed people into thinking they were looking at something tame or safe, and they would be lured in and willing to perhaps study the photograph. There was something strange about the photograph. The message and story behind that one oddity was actually an unsettling truth. He was able to camouflage his message and hide what he was really trying to say. For instance in his photograph portraying the row of four pairs of shoes and the one black pair beneath the painted image of a shoe with the word “SHINE” boldly written in neat font. Baldwin Lee, Evans’s former apprentice, told of the irony in this photograph. Not only is the word shine a derogatory for a black person, but the light above this work area is unlit. It is consistency of this sight that we must grant the moment of pause to consider the lesson of the master. He pointed out the inequalities suffered by the blacks in the South. It might have even been an overtly obvious fact, but so rare a light was ever shined on this aspect of society at the time. A person might be content to live in ignorance. But any moral being exposed to the light and error of their ways must right the transgression and see to it that others alter course.

Sources: http://www.biographybase.com/biography/Evans_Walker.html

http://www.answers.com/topic/shine

http://www.agallery.com/pages/photographers/photos/wevans/WEShoeShineSignLO.jpg