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Louis Draper, Plucked From Obscurity

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Pictures of the Day: Turkey and Elsewhere

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‘Photography Is My Wife, Music Is My Mistress\'

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Pictures of the Day: Sudan and Elsewhere

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Turning Back for the Missed Story

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Pictures of the Day: Kenya and Elsewhere

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Photos from Kenya, Afghanistan, Thailand and India.

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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.

DESCRIPTIONWalker 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.

DESCRIPTIONWalker 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?”

DESCRIPTIONWalker 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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Pictures of the Day: Syria and Elsewhere

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Photos from Syria, India, Kenya and California.

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Come for the Photographs, Stay for the Ranching

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We recommend viewing this slide show in full-screen mode.

Jean Laughton crisscrossed the country from 1995 to 2002, photographing rodeo athletes decked out in denim and chaps. When she was done, she settled in the South Dakota badlands and bought an inexpensive house in the tiny town of Interior. She figured she would spend a couple of years taking portraits of the people she met there and then move on.

A decade later, she hasn't left.

Her decision to stay put came after she visited the Quarter Circle XL Ranch in southwestern South Dakota and met Lyle O'Bryan, a “real old-time cowboy” who was raising about 350 head of cattle, mostly by himself but with some help from his neighbors.

DESCRIPTIONJean Laughton “Working Cattle on the Brunsch Ranch.” John Bauman counted cattle.

“They're straightforward, honest, hard-working people that take pride in their heritage,” Ms. Laughton said. “They herd cattle from horseback, not from four-wheelers.”

The first time she photographed Mr. O'Bryan at work, she ran alongside, always a few steps behind the photograph. She soon switched to horseback and started accompanying him and the other hands as they drove cattle. When she rode with a crew of 25 ranching neighbors, she said, “it felt like I had traveled back in time.”

She started staying at the ranch more and more and began to learn the ropes. Soon, she knew she didn't want to leave.

Many of the local ranchers make their own gear and dress the way a photographer might hope a cowboy would. But it's not only the clothes that make the man, Ms. Laughton learned.

“What they wear doesn't make someone a good hand,” she said. “It's integrity, courage and not giving up. A good cowboy knows his craft, can endure all kinds of weather and can react at the spur of the moment.”

DESCRIPTIONJean Laughton “Branding on the Double X.” Baxter Badure, on the white horse, dragged a calf to the wood fire for branding.

Using a digital camera to document these men was out of the question. She settled on a Noblex panoramic film camera that gave a very wide image, which seemed particularly appropriate for the large, empty expanses.

Ms. Laughton remembers when she met Baxter Badure, a local rancher who became a good friend. He emerged slowly over the vast horizon on horseback, appearing hat first. It was a scene that seemed taken from a 1950s CinemaScope western, and Mr. Badure seemed straight out of Central Casting.

These were judgments Ms. Laughton was professionally qualified to make, by the way.

Before she headed west to the world of real cowboys, she had worked in New York City as a casting director for print advertising campaigns and television commercials. She made her living finding the right types of models and actors to fit commercial conceptions of real life. She also worked with many great photographers, including Richard Avedon, who inspired her to start taking pictures herself.

DESCRIPTIONJean Laughton “Trailing Cattle In on the Double X Ranch.”

When she moved to Interior, she thought she would occasionally fly east to make money as a casting agent. Instead, she started living and working at the ranch, learning how to rope calves and drive cattle. She is still learning.

“It would take two lifetimes time to learn what Lyle knows,” she said.

Photographers are often urged to dig deep into a topic to really understand their subjects. Ms. Laughton has dug so deep, she is developing roots.

She now owns 75 head of cattle herself, and she and Mr. O'Bryan, 79, run the ranch together - without any hired help. It's important to her that the way of life in her ranching community survives as long as possible.

“I think of ranching as a way of preserving land, the wide open spaces, and the culture and heritage of the West,” she said.

When she arrived at the Quarter Circle XL Ranch, everything looked like an old photograph. Now, she sees it also as part of a modern-day story of corporations taking over and small ranchers disappearing.

Ms. Laughton fears that soon, cowboys may exist only in commercials and on Imax screens.

“The old timers are fading out and taking with them all the wisdom they carry,” she said.

DESCRIPTIONJean Laughton “A Foggy Shipping Day on the Brunsch Ranch.” Preparing the calves for the sale barn.

If you happen to be going eastbound on Interstate 90 in South Dakota look for a 12 by 36 foot billboard with one of Ms. Laughton's cowboy photos (slide 6 above). It's hard to miss. The billboard which celebrates the state's cowboy heritage was partially funded by the South Dakota Arts Council and will be up until July 2014. Ms. Laugton also writes the blog “My Ranching Life“.

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Pictures of the Day: California and Elsewhere

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Photos from California, Somalia, Russia and China.

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