 | Former Yale faculty member Walker Evans took this photograph of houses and billboards in 1936 in Atlanta. He taught at Yale for a decade before his death. |
Yale will celebrate the centennial of the birthday of famed photographer and former faculty member Walker Evans in November with exhibitions at the School of Art and Jonathan Edwards College (JE), and talks by contemporaries who knew him personally and worked with him professionally.
Evans (1903-1975) achieved widespread acclaim for his photographs of the Depression era in the American South -- particularly for the book "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men," co-authored by writer James Agee, which documented the life of three sharecropper families. The book "American Photographs," published in conjunction with Walker's 1938 show at the Museum of Modern Art (it's first-ever one-man exhibition of photography), remains in print today and is considered a seminal influence on the world of photography. Evans taught at the Yale School of Art 1964-1974. In 1972, the Yale Art Gallery honored the photographer with the retrospective exhibition "Walker Evans, Forty Years, An Anthology of Taste."
Writing in the catalogue for the exhibitions, School of Art Dean Richard Benson, a photographer and longtime associate of Evans, says: "Walker Evans' brilliance lay in his capacity to approach what he saw in a state of awe, and then to use his technique and intelligence to render its appearance precisely. Yet, as he did this, he was absolutely sure-footed about the fact that he was producing pictures of the mind and not literal transcriptions of the world before him. He managed this through the astonishing technique of rendering everything with the utmost clarity."
The School of Art exhibit, "Walker Evans: A Centennial," features digital prints made from Evans' original material. It will be on view Nov. 5-13 at the school's Green Hall Gallery, 1156 Chapel St. The exhibition showcases work from Evans' most productive years, 19351938, including images from "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men." The prints for the exhibition were produced by two of Evans' friends and professional colleagues, Sven Martson, who printed under Evans' supervision, and John T. Hill, the executor of his estate. A reception for the opening of the exhibition will take place 5-7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov 5. The Green Hall Gallery is open 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Friday and on select weekends. Admission is free. For information, call (203) 432-2605.
The second show, "Walker Evans Centennial: A Birthday Celebration," featuring selections of the photographer's work from the Yale Art Gallery and private collections, will be on exhibit Nov. 6-23 at the JE master's house, 70 High St. There will be an opening reception 5-7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 6. The exhibition is open to the public most Thursdays or by appointment. For information, call (203) 432-0356.
In conjunction with the centennial, there will be three master's teas at JE.
On Nov. 6, Benson and Jerry L. Thompson, photographer, writer and Evans' biographer, will talk about the photographer's "process and wit."
On Nov. 11, Hill and Alan Trachtenberg, professor emeritus of American studies and English literature, will give a talk titled "Books and Translations," putting Evans' work as a photographer into a historical and cultural context.
On Nov. 20, John Szarkowksi, director emeritus of photography at the Museum of Modern Art, will offer personal recollections of his friend.
All the teas take place in the master's house at 4 p.m. and are free and open to the public.
T H I S
Campus events mark centennial
of Walker Evans' birth
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