Walker Evans (in the first photo) (November 3, 1903 – April 10, 1975) was an American photographer and photojournalist known for his influential images of American life during the Great Depression.

Evans was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and grew up in a wealthy family. He attended several prestigious schools, including Phillips Academy and Williams College, but dropped out of college before completing his degree. He then worked a series of odd jobs before taking up photography in the late 1920s.

In 1926,Walker Evans traveled to Paris and was deeply influenced by the work of French photographers, mostly Eugène Atget.

In May and June 1933, Evans took photographs in Cuba "The Crime of Cuba" (1933), a "strident account" of the dictatorship of Gerardo Machado. There, Evans drank nightly with Ernest Hemingway, who lent him money to extend  stay an additional week. His photographs documented street life, the presence of police, beggars and dockworkers in rags, and other waterfront scenes. He also helped Hemingway acquire photos from newspaper archives that documented some of the political violence Hemingway described in "To Have and Have Not "(1937). Fearing that his photographs might be deemed critical of the government and confiscated by Cuban authorities, he left 46 prints with Hemingway. The cache of prints left with Hemingway was discovered in Havana in 2002 and exhibited at an exhibition in Key West.

In July and August 1936, he traveled with author James Agee to the South to photograph sharecroppers in Alabama for a proposed book about their lives. The resulting images, along with Agee's text, were published in 1941 as "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men" a landmark work of documentary photography that chronicled the lives of poor Southern farmers during the Depression.

From October 1935 ,Evans was hired by the Farm Security Administration (FSA)  to photograph the effects of the Great Depression on American life. He produced some of his most iconic images during this period, including his portraits of sharecroppers and their homes in Alabama.During World War II, Evans worked for the Office of War Information.

Evans continued to work as a photojournalist throughout his career, but he also produced very significant personal work. His photographs of the New York City subway system, made with  secret camera (inside his coat)  in the late 1930s, are now considered one of the greatest bodies of work in the history of photography.

In the 1950s, Evans turned his attention to photographing signs, billboards, and of other folk architectures in America. He was fascinated by the way these objects expressed the culture and values of the country.

In 1940-1941-1959 , Evans was awarded three tims with Guggenheim Fellowship.

Also taught photography at Yale University from 1965 until his retirement in 1974.

Walker Evans,was influenced by a variety of artists and writers, including Eugene Atget, Henri Cartier-Bresson, August Sander and (his friend) James Agee. Atget's documentation of Parisian architecture and Cartier-Bresson's use of thern"decisive moment" technique influenced Evans' approach to documentary photography.

Evans was known he did not share much about his personal life with the public. He was often described as solitary and reserved, with a sharp and critical intellect. He was an avid reader and collector of books, and his library contained thousands of volumes.

Evans died in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1975, at the age of 72. 

His legacy as a pioneering documentary photographer continues to influence the field to this day.

Today, Evans is widely considered one of the most important American photographers of the 20th century. His work has influenced generations of photographers and has had a profound impact on the way we see and understand American society.

Evans is perhaps best known for his work during the Great Depression, when he documented the lives of everyday Americans in rural and urban settings. He traveled extensively throughout the United States, capturing images of  farmers, and factory workers. His work was often focused on the details of everyday life and the struggles of ordinary people.

Evans' photographs are characterized by their directness, honesty, and lack of sentimentality. He sought to capture the essence of his subjects, often by photographing them in their natural surroundings, without any artificial poses or staging.

Evans' work had a significant influence on the development of photography and the visual arts. His style of candid, unadorned photography helped to establish a new, more realistic approach to photography art. Many photographers and artists have cited Evans as an influence, including Diane Arbus, Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, and William Eggleston. Evans' images continue to be studied and admired today for their aesthetic and historical significance.

Evans' work continues to inspire and influence photographers today, and his legacy isrncelebrated in numerous museum exhibitions and collections.


THEY SAID ABOUT EVANS:

Diane Arbus: "Walker Evans is a god. He's a real model for what I would like to be as a photographer."

Robert Frank: "Walker Evans was the first photographer I looked at seriously, and he remains a great influence."

Lee Friedlander (who was also a friend of Evans): "Walker was a very complex,very intelligent man, and a very great photographer. He was one of the first to see photography as an art form."

William Christenberry (who was also a friend of Evans): "Walker was one of the greatest photographers of our time. His vision of the world was unique and original, and his influence on photography will be felt for generations to come."

Joel Meyerowitz: "Walker Evans has always been one of my heroes.His pictures of America are a kind of truth telling, but he didn't tell it in a didactic way, he told it in a poetic way."

John Szarkowski : "Evans' influence on photography has been incalculable. In his work, we see an America we never knew existed, and yet it seems to be the only America that matters."  

"Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever... it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything."

"The eye traffics in feelings,not in thoughts."

"The best thing about a picture is that it never changes, even when the people in it do."

"The subject matter is so much more important than the photographer."

"To hold a camera is to be in a very special place, where life and art converge."

"The true test of a photographer's skill is to look at a picture they have taken of a well-known subject and not recognize it."

(The last six photos are from Walker Evans book covers)