s Fall / Winter 06 07 - Steidl

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Walker Evans: Lyric Documentary
Edited by John T. Hill
Walker Evans’ work was spread over forty-six fitful and prolific years, yet in a scant two years, 1935-1936, he produced
a singular body of work that defined his career. In the process he refined a hybrid style which combined documentation
with sly personal comment. During that brief time he worked for the Farm Security Administration (previously the U.S.
Resettlement Administration) photographing the consequences of the Great Depression. He delighted in being the
artist traveling incognito as an artless photojournalist, but with the independence to satisfy his own designs.
This volume presents those seminal images for the first time as a comprehensive body and in chronological order.
These are prime examples of Evans’ alchemy – his seemingly effortless transformation of mundane fact into sweeping
lyricism. This series not only defines his mature style but also offers a path for artists of future generations. Evans has
been called the most important American artist of his century. The impact of his vision reaches well beyond the province
of photography.
John T. Hill was Evans’ colleague at Yale and executor of the Walker Evans Estate. In this text Hill explores a little-known
lecture given by Evans at Yale University in 1964, which Evans called his aesthetic autobiography. He entitled the
lecture “Lyric Documentary,” defining the title by a series of surprising and unpredictable examples, both visual and
verbal. Hill also discusses Evans’ preference for books over exhibitions as a format for presenting his work. Evans was
keenly interested in the printing technologies of his time, hunting for the optimum translation of his images into ink and
paper. Using current digital technology, Hill and Sven Martson, one of Evans’ printers and friend, have pursued this
same goal for the past four years.
Exhibitions: Convento di San Michele, Cagliari, spring and summer, 2006; Museo Nazionale Alinari della Fotografia,
Florence, Fall 2006; The UBS Art Gallery, Walker Evans: Silver and Carbon, New York, August 24 to November 9, 2006
Walker Evans: Lyric Documentary
Edited by John T. Hill
Essays by John T. Hill, Heinz Liesbrock and Alan Trachtenberg
Book design by John T. Hill
260 pages with 200 tritone plates
9.25 x 9.5 in. / 23.7 x 24.4 cm
Clothbound hardcover with dust jacket
US $ 60.00 / £ 32.00 / R 48.00
ISBN 3-86521-022-8
ISBN-13 978-3-86521-022-7
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