Walker Evans Archive at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Self-portrait, 1927. Courtesy of Walker Evans Archive: metmuseum.org

A brief piggy-back post, touting the depths of Metropolitan Museum of Art’s online collections. Aside from his Farm Security Administration photographs held at the Library of Congress, the archive of American Photographer, Walker Evans (1903-1975) is housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and accessible via the online collections. Walker Evans not only photo-documented American life, and often plight, resulting in heightened awareness of economic conditions and urging social change; he did it poetically. When looking through 8,000+ of Evan’s photography hosted by the Met, his mastery of portraiture strikes me the most. His profound ability to capture deep meaning or mystery in just a glance, reveal or conceal clandestine thoughts by way of light and shadow, or change sentiment with a tilt of the camera angle to artfully capture bone structure. It is no wonder he was also able to capture this in his self-portraits. If these selfies don’t melt your heart, you should check your pulse. You should also check out all of his photography, as it is a celebrated, dreamy documentation at America(ns): from rural village(r)s to New York City urban(ites) sights. I have a particular fondness for a collection of ‘instant print‘ Polaroids taken in the last years of his life.