IMAGO/GRANGER Historical Picture Archive

Faces of Documentary Photography: Walker Evans

What makes a photograph unforgettable? For Walker Evans, it was all about showing things as they really were. Read about Evans and explore his work in our new series Faces of Documentary Photography.

 Walker Evans portrait
IMAGO / Everett Collection | A portrait of the American photographer Walker Evans (1903-1975). Photographed by Edwin Locke in February 1937.

“What I believe is really good in the so-called documentary approach to photography is the addition of lyricism. This quality is usually produced unconsciously and even unintentionally and accidentally by the cameraman.” – Walker Evans.

What makes a photograph unforgettable? For Walker Evans, it was all about showing things as they really were. Through his camera, Evans captured America’s soul during its most challenging years and captured images that still resonate with photographers, historians, and art enthusiasts alike. His work during the Great Depression captured the struggles and strength of ordinary Americans, leaving behind a legacy that shaped documentary photography.

Walker Evans Flood refugees in Arkansas 1937.
IMAGO / Heritage Images | Flood refugees at mealtime in Forrest City, Arkansas, 1937. Photograph by Walker Evans.

By Asma Roshan

Documentary photography began in the mid-19th century and gained prominence in the early 20th century. It emerged as a response to the Industrial Revolution, social change, and, later, the need to capture the realities of societal issues and war at the time.

The 1930s marked the golden era of documentary photography, particularly in the United States. This period saw the formation of the Farm Security Administration (FSA) during the Great Depression. Photographers like Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, and Gordon Parks were employed by the FSA to document the impact of the Depression on American life. Their work produced some of the most iconic images in American photography, and it captured rural poverty, migrant struggles, and urban hardship.

In this article, we explore the work of Walker Evans, who is often hailed as a defining voice in American documentary photography, particularly for his stark, unembellished images that captured the people’s experience during the Great Depression.

Who Was Walker Evans, and How Did He Capture American Life?

From weathered signs to the faces of farmers, Evans documented a side of America that needed to be seen. His approach, straightforward but deeply human, impacted how we think about documentary photography. But who was he and when did he start his work?

Walker Evans was born into a middle-class family in 1903 in St. Louis, Missouri. After graduating from Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, in 1922, he enrolled at Williams College, but he didn’t pursue academic life and dropped out after a year. Before his love for photography was discovered, he traveled to Paris in 1926, drawn by the allure of European culture, where his passion for literature, especially French modernist writers, was sparked.

After returning to New York, he worked various jobs and tried to find his path. Surrounded by the city’s vibrant life and diverse neighborhoods, Evans was inspired to capture everyday moments. Influenced by his love of literature and photographers like Eugène Atget, he began experimenting with photography. Initially drawn to modernism and abstract styles, Evans eventually shifted towards a documentary approach and focused on ordinary scenes that often went unnoticed. This shift laid the foundation for his future work documenting American life and established him as a prominent figure in the field.

New York, 1938 by Walker Evans.
IMAGO / Everett Collection | A tenant on 61st Street, between 1st and 3rd Avenues, New York, 1938. Photograph by Walker Evans.

Walker Evans’ Work During the Farm Security Administration (FSA) Years

Evans’ association with the Farm Security Administration (FSA) in the 1930s played an important role in his career and the development of documentary photography. The FSA, a New Deal agency created during the Great Depression, launched a photography project to document the effects of the Depression on American farmers and rural communities. In 1935, Evans joined the FSA photography program under the direction of Roy Stryker.

Evans’ assignment was to document the economic hardships of the time and show the reality of the Depression while still preserving the dignity of those being photographed. He focused on straightforward, simple images of everyday life, and let the photographs speak for themselves rather than imposing a narrative. He presented people and their environments and captured farmers, laborers, storefronts, and rural landscapes with a blunt yet empathetic approach.

Photographer and critic John Szarkowski later said about Evans’ impact in a statement by New York’s Museum of Modern Art: “It is difficult to know now with certainty whether Evans recorded the America of his youth, or invented it.”

Evans himself described it as “Lyric Documentary”: “What I believe is really good in the so-called documentary approach to photography is the addition of lyricism. This quality is usually produced unconsciously and even unintentionally and accidentally by the cameraman,” Walker Evans explained.

Other Notable Works by Evans

Aside from his FSA photographs, some of Walker Evans’ most famous works include his collaboration with writer James Agee on the 1941 book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. This project combined Evans’ intimate images with Agee’s writing to tell the story of three tenant farming families in Alabama. The book was a personal and humanizing portrayal of their lives and showed the harsh realities of poverty in the rural South.
One of his most iconic portraits from this time is Alabama Tenant Farmer’s Wife (1936), which captures the tired, weathered expression of Allie Mae Burroughs, the wife of a tenant farmer. Her face became a symbol of the hardships of rural life during the Great Depression and one of Evans’ most powerful works.

IMAGO/piemags
IMAGO / piemags | “Tin Relic” by Walker Evans (1903-1975).

Evans also published American Photographs in 1938, an influential photo book that accompanied a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The book showcased his exploration of American culture, from urban scenes to rural landscapes, and highlighted the ordinary aspects of life.

Evans also frequently photographed Local architecture, such as storefronts, signage, and buildings, documenting the visual character of American towns and cities.

Walker Evans’ direct approach to photography has ensured his work remains a significant example of documentary photography and a key contribution to documenting societal change in the 20th century.

You can explore Walker Evans’ work through the IMAGO archive here.

IMAGO/Bridgeman Images
IMAGO / Bridgeman Images
IMAGO/piemags
IMAGO / piemags
“Shoeshine Stand, Southeastern United States,
IMAGO / piemags | “Shoeshine Stand, Southeastern United States,” circa 1936.
IMAGO/GRANGER Historical Picture Archive
IMAGO / GRANGER Historical Picture Archive
Flood Refugee, Forrest City, Arkansas, 1937.
IMAGO / piemags | Flood Refugee, Forrest City, Arkansas, 1937.

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