Walker Evans
Walker Evans (November 3, 1903 – April 10, 1975)
American photographer best known for his work for the Farm Security
Administration (FSA) documenting the effects of the Great Depression.
Developed his own evocative but more reticent notions of realism, of the
spectator's role, and of the poetic resonance of ordinary subjects.
Answered a personal need to distill the essence of American life from the
simple and the ordinary. His photographs of roadside architecture, rural
churches, small-town barbers, and cemeteries reveal a deep respect for the
neglected traditions of the common man and secured his reputation as
America's preeminent documentarian.
He said that his goal as a photographer was to make pictures that are
"literate, authoritative, transcendent”.
"The guard is down and the mask is off," he remarked. "Even more than in
lone bedrooms (where there are mirrors), people's faces are in naked
repose down in the subway."