The Three Minute Exhibit: Walker Evans

A look at the work of Walker Evans, a photographer who changed and influenced documentary photography.

Walker Evans, one of the greatest photographers of the 20th century, led a life that broke all forms of conventionality and conformity. John Szarkowski, the renowned historian, curator and critic, and the force behind the Museum of Modern Art in New York, called Evans’ work the ‘antithesis of art’.

Most famously known for his extensive documentation of the plight of sharecroppers for the Farm Security Administration, during the Great Depression, Evans’ breadth of work extended far beyond. He vehemently sought out the things that made up the vernacular—the making of this Americanness—in the United States, by photographing signboards, architecture, interiors of spaces and landscapes.