WALKER EVANS -- 1930s RURAL PHOTOGRAPHER

Downie Bros.Circus ads on rural outbuilding

Lynchburg (state?)

Walker Evans, photographer

1936 -- Library of Congress

Early photographers have always captured my imagination --from the early tin types to mid-twentieth century. This time-frame was a trans-formative period based on wars and industrial growth. Much of what can be imagined from this period is found through the eyes of photographers. I like amateur photographers as well as the professionals. However, a favorite of mine from this era was a professional photographer that I label a cultural photographer  -- his name was Walker Evans. 

Evans, found creative passion in the humbler side of life -- what I call the reality of  life. He had a long career in photography but  his photos from the 1930s are the ones that I have always admired. These were main streets, small towns and people of our rural areas. Primarily these photographs were taken in southern states while he worked for the Resettlement Administration (RA) and then the Farm Security Administration (FSA) both Great Depression federal programs. 

SHOE SHINE STAND, SOUTHEASTERN U.S.
WALKER EVANS PHOTOGRAPHER 1936
Library of Congress

These early photos convince us that we, as a country, have changed, losing our former creative community  spirit. . But I feel there is a movement afoot that might result in bringing back some of our former significant values to small towns  and the rural coutryside. 

Take a look at these early photo icons of main street commerce. Their liquid ambiance feels welcoming and real.   

WATERFRONT IN NEW ORLEANS
FRENCH MARKET SIDEWALK SCENE, LOUISIANA
WALKER EVANS PHOTOGRAPHER -- 1935
Library of Congress

The French Market scene appears as a thoroughfare of legs, wheels, signs, and trade. Regulations seem unknown as vehicles park ever which way, signs protruding from on high and on the sidewalk. It almost feels like it's a fair.

LINCOLN MARKET, WINSTON SALEM, NORTH CAROLINA
WALKER EVANS -- 1935
Library of Congress

Aren't we glad that Evans captured this creative way of advertising -- using the store's exterior wall -- of course. 

SIDEWALK SCENE IN SELMA ALABAMA
WALKER EVANS -- 1935
Library of Congress

Alabama and the camaraderie of friends -- always present in the 1930s rural environment.

RURAL LOUISIANA
WALKER EVANS --  PHOTOGRAPHER -- 1936
Library of Congress

Walker's subjects were often of vernacular architecture along with other cultural materials. His photos  have a "stand alone" quality. They really can be presented with few accompanying words. 

RESOURCES:


Introduction to "Walker Evans," Museum of Modern Art Exhibition, 1971 


Walker Evans,  by Maria Morris Hanbourg, Jeff L. Rosenheim, Douglas Eklund, Mia Fineman


Let Us Now Praise Famous Men by Walker Evans (photographer) and James Agee


Library of Congress, Washington D. C.

1899 PHOTO -- MAN AND HIS FRIEND

In the photograph above dated 1899, sits a man and his friend -- his arm on its back like they were best of friends. 


He brought it to a studio to have their picture taken together. Notice the sign (difficult to read)  that he placed on his friend.  I have a feeling that his "friend" was a squash or pumpkin that probably was a county fair winner and the man was so pleased about it that he took it to a professional photographer. 


And why do I assume that it was a professional  photographer? Because of the hand-painted backdrop  that is behind the man and his friend. Backdrops like these were popular in small studios during the late nineteenth -- early twentieth century.


The sign on the pumpkin or squash says that it is 122 pounds in the year 1899. I cannot make out the long name except that it starts with an "S."  It could be his name or perhaps an heirloom variety name.


I found this old photo in a box with many others about twenty years ago in an antique store in Williamston, Michigan. It was one of those large, about 8 X 10 cardboard's, with the photo pasted on the cardboard while leaving about an inch of cardboard border. Sometimes you find names on the backs of old pictures. This was not the case here. Its back was blank.


You might wonder why I call this very large pumpkin or squash this man's "friend"  Well, I just thought it was a bit strange to include a squash or pumpkin with the presumed owner in a photo taken professionally. Perhaps it was a cultural folkway in 1899 to do so?


It is difficult to understand folkways sometimes when time has passed, in this case one hundred and twelve years.