Walker Evans

“The real thing that I'm talking about has purity and a certain severity, rigor, simplicity, directness, clarity, and it is without artistic pretension in a self-conscious sense of the word.” Walker Evans himself provided this perfect definition of his own work. He photographed Depression-era America with a constant striving for objectivity, a kind of documentary neutrality. Nevertheless, the sculptural subtlety of his images and the close attention he pays to both people and things marked an entire generation of artists.