I just found out that the
UM Museum of Art is showing a Walker Evans (1903-1975) exhibit! It's basically a retrospective of James Agee's and Evans' collaborative work, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, which appeared in book form in 1941. I always liked Walker Evans' images, and there is a good biography of him by James R. Mellow. The Agee-Evans venture is an interesting book, and I think without Evans' images, Agee's prose would lack the impact that's provided by the photographs. It's hard to imagine that sharecroppers could be so dirt poor, and in the context of the Great Depression, maybe they weren't quite so bad off as some. And I have to wonder -- if white sharecroppers were that bad off, how bad did African-Americans have it? Something to think about.
For some background on Walker Evans, I suggest these sites:
Walker Evans Revolutionizes Documentary Photography
Getty Museum
Art Cyclopedia
I look forward to seeing the show!
Addendum -- I first viewed the exhibit on 10/28 -- it's an excellent show with 78 prints and ancillary letters and documents. Well worth seeing Evan's original prints, many of which did not appear in the book.
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