Walker Evans

View of Easton, Pennsylvania

Maker

Walker Evans (American, 1903-1975), (RISD BFA 1965, Graphic Design; MFA 1968, Photography)
Jim Dow (American, b. 26 July 1942), printer

Title

View of Easton, Pennsylvania
American Photographs II

Year

1936

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

silver print

Dimensions

Image/sheet: 20.3 x 25.4 cm (8 x 10 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Signed on mount: Walker Evans

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of James Dow

Object Number

71.043.40

Type

Publications

Exhibition History

America in View
Landscape Photography 1865 to Now
Sep 21, 2012 – Jan 13, 2013

Label copy

By compressing distance and flattening perspective, Walker Evans collapses the two cityscapes of Easton, Pennsylvania, and Phillipsburg, New Jersey, into one plane. Evans’s aesthetically neutral style seems to depict the world without the intervention of the photographer’s point of view. At the same time, he forces the details of every building and smokestack to the surface of the image, making the plight of the cities and their inhabitants-the Depression had crippled the shipping and manufacturing industries that were the lifeblood of both towns-impossible to ignore.

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Tombstone

Walker Evans (American, 1903-1975)
Jim Dow (American, b. 26 July 1942), printer
View of Easton, Pennsylvania; American Photographs II, 1936
Gelatin silver print
Image/sheet: 20.3 x 25.4 cm (8 x 10 inches)
Gift of James Dow 71.043.40

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