Walker Evans (1903–1975) was one of the great per-sonalities of 20th century photography. He first came to public attention through his documentation of poverty in America at the time of the Great Depression that began at the 29th of October 1929 with the Black Friday and dominated the 1930s. Until today his reception is closely linked to the photographs he produced in the 1930s. The exhibition displays with well over 200 original prints from the years 1928 to 1974 both, the icons of his oeuvre, as well as rarely published photographs.

His work played a decisive role for what is called the “documentary style”. For decades, right up to the present, the prolific photographic oeuvre of Walker Evans has acquired an increasingly model character. With his sober documentary fashion he recorded a uniquely authentic picture of America, and like no other before him showed a particular feel for both the everyday and the subtle.

Visitors follow both Evans’ biography and the chang-ing face of America, from the Great Depression to the onset of stability and business as usual: early impressions of the 1920s from the New York neighbourhood he lived in; portraits of his friends and fellow artists which give some indication of the ram-ified cultural ambience he inhabited; specimens of 19th century architecture that have blended into the evolving cultural life about them; picture cycles from Tahiti and Cuba; images of Afri-can sculptures and masks commissioned by the New York Museum of Modern Art; and numerous photographs taken in the 1930s in the rural south of the USA, which contrast starkly with the life-styles of those who may be seen promenading in the fashionable streets of cities like New York. The works are taken mostly from the considerable private collection of Clark and Joan Worswick, but also from various German collections.

The exhibition shows icons in the history of photog-raphy: portraits of farmer families, abandoned houses, vacant fabric buildings. In 1935 Evans was commissioned by the American Farm Security Administration (FSA) to document the life of the agricultural workers that were affected by the Great Depression. The resulting photographs that equally showed misery and poverty made Evans famous.

The show also highlights some of the photographer’s lesser known motifs dating from the 1940s until 1960s. These in-clude works done for Fortune, the magazine founded by Henry Luce in 1930; pictures taken on trips to London from 1945 onwards for the periodical Architectural Forum; or during stays at Robert Frank’s Nova Scotia house in the late 1960s.

In addition to street scenes, American monuments and shop window displays far from the world of “big business”, exam-ples of his significant subway photographs are to be seen, taken with a hidden camera. We also see interiors whose modest appoint-ments tell of the life of those who live in them, pictures that inevitably recall Evans’ remark that “I do like to suggest people by absence”. Evans’ predilection for typography, advertising and mass-produced articles give rise to strangely fascinating shots which seem to anticipate the soon-to-emerge Pop Art and its as-semblages.

The last photographic chapter comprises colour po-laroids of compressed partial views, whether these be road mark-ings or signs and lettering on buildings, which contrive to be concrete, abstract and revolutionary at once. They are trailblaz-ers for a kind of colour photography that Evans had applied while working for Fortune and of which he had sometimes taken a criti-cal view.

The new way of using colour has been continued in many works of the following generation on whom Walker Evans’ photographs have had a liberating effect.

The exhibition is curated by James Crump.

Martin-Gropius-Bau

Niederkirchnerstraße, 7
Berlin 10963 Germany
Ph. +49 30 254860
post@gropiusbau.de
www.berlinerfestspiele.de

Opening hours

Wednesday - Monday from 10am to 7pm
Until 10 August 2014 daily open from 10am to 8pm

Tickets

Full rate 7.00€
Reduced rate 5.00€
Groups (of 5 or more persons) 5.00€ per person Admission free for those aged 16 or under
Combination tickets at favourable rates are available at the cash desk
Online tickets: www.gropiusbau.de/tickets

Related images
  1. Walker Evans: Greek Revival House with Half-Lunette Window in Full-Façade Gable, Cherry Valley, New York, November 1931, Collection of Clark and Joan Worswick © Walker Evans Archive, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. Walker Evans: Façade of House with Large Numbers, Denver, Colorado, August 1967, Collection of Clark and Joan Worswick © Walker Evans Archive, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  3. Walker Evans: Barn, Nova Scotia, 1969 – 71, Collection of Clark and Joan Worswick © Walker Evans Archive, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  4. Walker Evans: Interior View of Robert Frank’s House, Nova Scotia, 1969 – 71, Collection of Clark and Joan Worswick © Walker Evans Archive, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  5. Walker Evans: Robert Frank, Nova Scotia, 1969 – 71, Collection of Clark and Joan Worswick © Walker Evans Archive, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  6. Walker Evans: Interior View of Heliker/Lahotan House, Walpole, Maine, 1962, Collection of Clark and Joan Worswick © Walker Evans Archive, The Metropolitan Museum of Art