Walker Evans: A Biography
Thursday, December 31st, 2009
Belinda Rathbone
Walker Evans, arguably the single most important American photographer, was, according to Belinda Rathbone’s biography, an interesting man but not a nice one. He benefited throughout his life from people who cut him more slack than he could reasonably have expected.
Rathbone writes knowledgeably about Evans’s work and his role as an influence and mentor to photographers who came of creative age in the 60′s and 70′s and pays particular attention to his relationship with Robert Frank.
Evans is known for his pictures from the 1930′s. Rathbone shows that his most famous work was done in an 18-month period during that troubled decade. While taking his pay from the FSA he shunned relationships with the agency’s other photographers and though a great influence on the FSA’s work he resisted direction. After the FSA years he worked for Fortune Magazine. That job might have been too easy, too undemanding for somebody whose great talent was not matched with great discipline. I was left with the impression that he could have accomplished much more.
