- Hardcover: 332 pages
- Publisher: Princeton University Press (Jan 31 2000)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0691050783
- ISBN-13: 978-0691050782
- Product Dimensions: 30 x 26.7 x 3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 2.4 Kg
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
In 1926 Walker Evans dropped out of Williams College and arrived in Paris to launch his career as a writer. Though his life there revolved around the renowned Shakespeare and Company bookstore, a mixture of introversion and disdain for American culture kept him at a remove from the now famous expatriate circle of the era, the Fitzgeralds, Hemingway, the Murphys, and Joyce among them. He spent most of his time abroad alone and picked up his camera from time to time to document his immediate world, making images of his boarding room and his own shadow against a wall. When he returned to the States, Evans began to dedicate more time to his hobby, and by the end of his long career had established himself as one of the most important modernist photographers. Walker Evans, the catalog to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's retrospective of Evans's work (exhibiting February to May 2000, then moving on to other venues), is proof that his choice to abandon writing for photography left the cultural world richer. It is also arguably the best book available on the photographer and his images.
The Metropolitan possesses the bulk of Evans's archive of prints, negatives, diaries, working notes, letters, and other writings. In the process of planning the show, its curators discovered hundreds of previously unknown negatives stored at the Library of Congress. From this vast source, they constructed the show and its companion book. The catalog's introductory essays by such writers as Maria Morris Hambourg, head of photography for the Met, sketch the biographical details of Evans's life and explore works like his New York subway portraits in depth. But the real treat is to browse the nearly 200 plates, each reproduced from vintage prints in the museum's archive and private collections. Evans's early work focused on New York City--the proverbial bright lights of Broadway, the carnival atmosphere of Coney Island, the clutter of workers and shoppers and cars and advertisements in its streets. Soon he fanned out, photographing main drags and battered buildings in upstate New York and Pennsylvania. He also explored the people of Havana, Cuba, and the rural American South in some of his best-known work. By the mid-1970s, Evans was working in color, but his imagery remained consistent: signs, architecture, and seemingly inconsequential details like a Peg-Board full of kitchen utensils dominate. Arriving at the close of this book, readers can only thank the fates that Evans gave up his ambitions as a writer to devote himself wholly to his "left-handed hobby" of photography. --Jordana Moskowitz
From Library Journal
Walker Evans, the Metropolitan Museum of Art's catalog to its current major retrospective, is a rock-solid work providing biographical, historical, and visual accounts of the artist's life and work. Hambourg, an assistant curator in the museum's Department of Photography, edited this big book with the straightforward approach that Evans employed in his art. Careful reproduction of well-known black-and-white and little-known color photographs by Evans forms the heart of the volume. There are quality essays here as well, biographical and analytical writing that effectively places Evans's visual efforts in social and territorial context. From the self-portrait on the cover to the notebook entries to the many photographs clustered along the way, Unclassified: A Walker Evans Anthology quickly broadens the popular view of the photographer as a chronicler of 1930s America with black-and-white film in his camera. Gathered from many files in the large and varied Evans Archive at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, these collected writings, photos, and ephemera give us a socially concerned writer, artist, and meticulous keeper of his life's work along with his opinions and his collections of postcards. This version of Evans shakes him free of any narrow channel in which we placed him. He led a robust life, and the stillness that comes from his Depression-era work is shaken up by this energized look at the photographer. Walker Evans pointed a camera at his world and let the documentary result speak as his art. Chief curator in the Museum of Modern Art's Department of Photography, Galassi has taken that objective eye as his theme. Gathering over 300 works from several media by 100 artists, Galassi gives us a volume of reportorial art, showing people, places, and things in "as is" condition. Evans touched people with his photographs because he merged his images with their "real lives." The question of whether other artists using other means were influenced by Evans's work or simply liberated to offer a visual vernacular landscape is incidental here. Galassi's book succeeds because his choices match his theme so well and play off the many examples of Evans's work that unite these pages. Though the Metropolitan catalog is the first choice for purchase, all three books are well recommended for all types of libraries and essential for serious art collections.DDavid Bryant, New Canaan Lib., CT
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A delightful book.,
Ce commentaire est de: Walker Evans (Hardcover)
This first full-length study of Walker Evans offers insights into his artistry and a fresh look at every state of his career.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A beautiful book,
By A Customer
Ce commentaire est de: Walker Evans (Hardcover)
Walker Evans' photography rates amongst the best. His ability to capture a scene of everyday life and extract from it the beauty often overlooked by others is remarkable. The skill displayed in taking these photographs demonstrates why he has earned an enduring reputation as a master photographer. An inspirational must have for amateurs and professionals alike.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
5.0 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews) 7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating One of a Kind Book,
By silky69 - Published on Amazon.com
Ce commentaire est de: Walker Evans (Hardcover)
This book is truly fascinating, both for the information written about artist Walker Evans and his life as well as the photographs from his work. I love it for the subject matter that Walker Evans chose. There are a lot of photos of places where very poor Southern people live and also photos of very poor families and individuals as well as small town scenes, signs, etc.. Evans really has a talent for capturing the despair and souls of his poverty-stricken subjects, and you get to see how beautiful they are in their simplicity. There are also a lot of interesting photos of American architecture, including some cityscapes.This book is the "first full-length study" of Evans and uses information gained from his "diaries, papers, and negatives of Evan's personal collection." There are 6 essays written about Evans revealing information that was not previously understood about Evans such as his relationships with other artists, his intellectual development, what his goals and methods of procedures were, etc.. 10 of 15 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A beautiful book,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
Ce commentaire est de: Walker Evans (Hardcover)
Walker Evans' photography rates amongst the best. His ability to capture a scene of everyday life and extract from it the beauty often overlooked by others is remarkable. The skill displayed in taking these photographs demonstrates why he has earned an enduring reputation as a master photographer. An inspirational must have for amateurs and professionals alike.
4 of 12 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A delightful book.,
By Jeanne Lightly - Published on Amazon.com
Ce commentaire est de: Walker Evans (Hardcover)
This first full-length study of Walker Evans offers insights into his artistry and a fresh look at every state of his career.
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