The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA ) is the exclusive United States venue for the retrospective exhibition Walker Evans, on view through February 4, 2018. As one of the preeminent photographers of the 20th century, Walker Evans' 50-year body of work documents and distills the essence of life in America, leaving a legacy that continues to influence generations of contemporary photographers and artists. The exhibition encompasses all galleries in the museum's Pritzker Center for Photography, the largest space dedicated to the exhibition, study and interpretation of photography at any art museum in the United States.

Walker Evans, 1936, Floyd and Lucille Burroughs on Porch, Hale County, Alabama; © Walker Evans Archive, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

"Conceived as a complete retrospective of Evans' work, this exhibition highlights the photographer's fascination with American popular culture, or vernacular," explains Clément Chéroux, senior curator of photography at SFMOMA. "Evans was intrigued by the vernacular as both a subject and a method. By elevating it to the rank of art, he created a unique body of work celebrating the beauty of everyday life."

Using examples from Evans' most notable photographs ? including iconic images from his work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) documenting the effects of the Great Depression on American life; early visits to Cuba; street photography and portraits made on the New York City subway; layouts and portfolios from his more than 20-year collaboration with Fortune magazine and 1970s Polaroids;  Walker Evans explores Evans' passionate search for the fundamental characteristics of American vernacular culture: the familiar, quotidian street language and symbols through which a society tells its own story. Decidedly popular and more linked to the masses than the cultural elite, vernacular culture is perceived as the antithesis of fine art.

Pages: 1 · 2

More Articles

• The US Housing and Mortgage Market, Risks and Resilience: Federal Reserve Governor Michelle W. Bowman
• Lynn Hershman Leeson: Who Has Celebrated Her 80th Birthday and a New Exhibition, TWISTED, at The New Museum in New York City
• New York's Jewish Museum: Photography and the American Magazine; When Avant-garde Techniques in Photography and Design Reached the United States via European Emigrés
• Ferida Wolff's Backyard: Mushroom Hunt; Grasshoppers Leap Into the Future (on glass!)
• #MeToo Has Changed Our Culture, Now It’s Changing Our Laws.
• Seth Frotman: *Broken Promises: How Debt-Financed Higher Education Rewrote America's Social Contract and Fueled a Quiet Crisis
• Faithless Pictures; The Complex Relationship Between Image and Reality
• Vehicle Standards Should Be Strengthened to Expand Choice, Save Consumers Money; Charter For Advisory Committee for Sustained National Climate Assessment Expires
• Lucky or Ordinary? Burdened With All I’ve Known and Now Can No Longer Recall As I Wish
• When the Spirit Moves You: From Wealth to Worry