Walker Evans: Photographer of America

by Thomas Nau

Determined to "capture life has he saw it," Walker Evans (1903-1975) became one of the great photographers of the twentieth century, shooting in the New York City subways as well as the American heartland. His subjects included posters, billboards, and the Brooklyn Bridge--but he is best known for the stirring photographs he took of farmers during the Great Depression. This handsome volume offers a clearly written account of the legendary photographer's life and a verbal and visual portrait of the turbulent times in which he lived, illustrated with over 80 sumptuous duotone reproductions of his work.

Genres: Photography, Nonfiction, Biography, Art

64 pages, Hardcover

First published April 3, 2007

Reviews

[Rodica · Rating 2 out of 5]

While this is not a bad bad book, it’s not good either. I got it at our local library sale for a couple of dollars, so I’m quite happy I didn’t spend full price on it. There are not enough photographs shown, the text sounds more like a school presentation than the story of an amazingly talented photographer. This could have been so much better. Still, it’s sufficient to provide a quick idea on what Walker Evans is famous for.

[R. G. Nairam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up because when I flipped it open there were photographs I recognized, and I thought it would be neat to learn about the man who took them.

But this is very...bland.

The text is not that interesting, and almost every description of Walker Evans made me dislike the man. Now, maybe with better writing I would STILL dislike him (he ended up in relationships with two different married women who then divorced their husbands which is iiiiiick) but nothing really gave me much sympathy for the dude either. It's all very much stepped back from him as a person. He's described as the artistic type who never does as he's told (even by his employers) but...why should I care? They're paying him; it seems reasonable that they'd want to set his assignments?? How am I supposed to root for him when all I'm told is he can't be CONTAINED in any CONTAINER!?

Plus, it is full of irritating reflective questions about the people photographed and why Walker Evans did such or such. If you don't know or have an evidence-based guess, don't bring it up.

It's not really a horrible book and it has suitable purposes, it's just not very good either.

[Gijs Limonard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exploring the classics in photography; feast your eyes on these works of art; not all masterpieces but plenty to go around to get you inspired. Many of these collections are long out of print; check out the Internet Archive (https://archive.org); many of the timeless classics are made freely available or after signing up, free to (digitally) borrow.

[Mandie McGlynn]

There are not enough pictures in this book for my taste, especially since I was expecting a photo collection. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the interesting text. It's a good, bite-sized summary of the life of Walker Evans as it pertains to his photography.

[T. Tran]

Matter of fact, does not delve into Walker's personality. But informative and covers the art well.