A New Look at Walker Evans\'s ‘American Photographs\'

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In case casual readers thought they could flit randomly among the images in Walker Evans's “American Photographs,” Lincoln Kirstein provided a cautionary note in all caps:

THE REPRODUCTIONS PRESENTED IN THIS BOOK ARE INTENDED TO BE LOOKED AT IN THEIR GIVEN SEQUENCE

That might seem like unnecessary advice these days. But when the book was published in 1938 to accompany Mr. Evans's groundbreaking solo show at the Museum of Modern Art, it was a resounding declaration. While his was by no means the first photography book published, it broke from convention to create a new type of collection, in which how the pictures were laid out, as much so as the order of words in a sentence, gave the work its meaning.

Walker Evans, courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art “Sidewalk in Vicksburg, Miss.” 1936.

“Evans was suggesting that he could create a sequence of pictures that could become in and of itself a work of art,” said Sarah Hermanson Meister, who curated a 75th anniversary exhibition at MoMA. “It's not just that each individual picture was great or actually described its purported subject. But without any knowledge of narrative or chronological structure, he was creating the photo book as a work of art. That laid the groundwork for the whole artistic potential of what the photo book became in the 20th century.”

That fact that “American Photographs” is now in its fifth edition - timed to accompany the new MoMA exhibition - speaks to its influence. But it also attests to the challenge Ms. Meister faced as she organized the new installation of the show. It's easy enough to put Mr. Evans in the context of photographers whom he influenced. But she was more interested in how his work would play off that of postwar painters who redefined American iconography, like Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg and Jackson Pollock.

“Their proximity opens up the welcome association with what Evans did to define a picture of America on the eve of the Second World War - how that interaction with American popular culture would flower and change after the war in the work of these incredible American painters,” Ms. Meister said.

Mr. Evans had the distinction of being the first person to have a solo show at MoMA - in fact, the first and second. Though “American Photographs” was considered the first, he also had several dozen pictures in a show of 19th-century Victorian architecture. But it was the 1938 exhibition that made a bold statement about photography, especially with its accompanying catalog.

Walker Evans, courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art “Citizen in Downtown Havana.” 1932.

Changes in technology allowed for photo books to be published for a larger audience. Other photographers, like Brassai and Brandt, took advantage of that, Ms. Meister said, but not to the extent that Mr. Evans would. While their work was more descriptive of a place or social environment, Mr. Evans made a larger statement, one captured by the blunt simplicity of the exhibition's title.

For all its influence, the original show was hung by Mr. Evans, Mr. Kirstein and Thomas Mabry, then MoMA's executive director, in an unorthodox way.

“Kirstein, Evans and Mabry locked themselves in the gallery with a bottle of glue, a bottle of bourbon and the pictures,” Ms. Meister said. “They set to work, and by the next morning the pictures were hung.”

While not a note-for-note recreation of the original show, the current exhibition is true to its spirit. Some groupings harken to the original installation, while other images are placed in ways that allow the viewer to see them in contrast to paintings in adjoining galleries.

The result is a revelation, even for those who have long been familiar with the Evans canon. Then again, Mr. Kirstein could have told you that 75 years ago.

“After looking at these pictures with all their clear, hideous and beautiful detail, their open insanity and pitiful grandeur, compare this vision of a continent as it is, not as it might be or as it was, with any other coherent vision that we have had since the war,” he wrote. “What poet has said so much? What painter has shown so much?”

Walker Evans, courtesy of the Museum of Modern ArtT “Farmhouse in Westchester County, N.Y.” 1931.

“Walker Evans: American Photographs” will be on view at the Museum of Modern Art through Jan. 26, 2014.

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