Walker Evans
CV
CV
Biography
1903
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
1922
Graduates from Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts
1922 – 1923
Attends Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts
1923 – 1925
Works in the Public Library, New York
1926 – 1927
Attends the Sorbonne University in Paris, France. Studies the writings of Flaubert and Baudelaire.
Takes snapshots with roll film camera. Then returns to New York.
1928
Starts to photograph seriously with roll film camera and borrowed Leica.
1929
Meets Lincoln Kirstein.
1930
Photographs appear in Hound and Horn, Architectural Review, and Creative Art.
Starts to work with large-format camera.
1931
Begins to document early Victorian houses in New England and New York.
1932 – 1933
Travels to Tahiti and afterwards to Cuba.
1934
Goes to Florida. First story for Fortune magazine: "The Communist Party".
1935
Photographs an exhibition of African art at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Travels to New Orleans. Meets Jane Smith Ninas.
1935 – 1937
Staff Photographer, under Roy Stryker, for the Farm Security Administration (FSA).
1936
Takes leave of absence from the FSA to work on a Fortune magazine project with James Agee.
Later published as 'Let us Now Praise Famous Men' (1941).
1938
Begins to photograph subway riders and people in the streets with a Leica.
1941
Marries Jane Smith Ninas.
1943 – 1945
Staff writer for the Time magazine.
1945 – 1965
Associate editor and photographer for Fortune magazine.
1960
'Let us Now Praise Famous Men' reissued with 62 photographs.
1964 – 1974
Professor of Graphic Arts, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.
1965
Retires from professional photography.
1966
Publication of 'Many are Called' and 'Message from the Interior'.
1973
Grant from Mark Rothko Foundation. Photographs with Polaroid sx-70 camera.
1974 – 1975
Professor emeritus, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.
1975
Died in New Haven, Connecticut.
Grants and Awards
1973
Mark Rothko Foundation Grant, New York
1972
Artist in Residence, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire
1968
D. Litt, Williams College; Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Science
1962
Carnegie Corporation Award, New York
1959
Guggenheim Fellowship
1941
Guggenheim Fellowship
1940
Guggenheim Fellowship
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2022
Walker Evans American Photographs, The Mattatuck Museum Arts & History Center, Waterbury, Connecticut, USA
2020
Biennial for Contemporary Photography: Walker Evans Revisited, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Germany
2018
Walker Evans, SFMOMA, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA,USA
2017
Walker Evans, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
Walker Evans, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California
2016
Walker Evans. Depth of Field, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia
Walker Evans. Anonymous, Fondation A Stichting, Brussels, Belgium
2015
Walker Evans. Tiefenschärfe, Josef Albers Museum Quadrat, Bottrop, Germany
2014
Walker Evans. A Life's Work, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany
Walker Evans. American Photographs, Museum of Modern Art, New York
2012 – 2013
Walker Evans. Decade by Decade, Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur, Cologne, Germany
2012
Walker Evans, Cantor Arts Center, Stanford, California
2011 – 2012
The Exacting Eye of Walker Evans, Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, Connecticut
2010
Walker Evans, The Museum of Photography, Seoul, South Korea
2009
Walker Evans, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland
Walker Evans and the Picture Postcard, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
2008
Walker Evans. Beyond Documentary, Stephen Cohen Gallery, Los Angeles, California
2007
Walker Evans, Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, France
2006
Walker Evans. England 1973, Gardner Arts Centre, Brighton, UK
2005
Walker Evans. American Classics, Museum für Photographie, Braunschweig, Germany
2004
Walker Evans. New Translations and Vintage Prints, Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne, Germany
2003
Walker Evans. 1903-1975, The Photographers' Gallery, London, UK
2002
Walker Evans. Polaroids, Die Photographische Sammlung / SK Stiftung Kultur, Cologne, Germany
2000
Laurence Miller Gallery, New York
1999
Gallery 292, New York
1993
Gallery 292, New York
1991
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
1990
Photofest, Houston, Texas
Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich, Germany
1987
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
1983
IVAM Centre Julio Gonzales, Valencia, Spain
1981
Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York
1978
Sidney Janis Gallery, New York
1977
Robert Schoelkopf Gallery, New York
Wellesley College Museum, Wellesley, Massachusetts
1976
Palace of the Legion of Honor, Achenbach Foundation, San Francisco, California
1975
Museum of Modern Art, New York
1971
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut
Hopkins Centre, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire
1970
The Century Association, New York
1966
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Robert Schoelkopf Gallery, New York
1964
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
1962
Museum of Modern Art, New York
1948
Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
1938
Museum of Modern Art, New York
1933
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023 – 2024
Connecticut Modern: Art, Design, and the Avant-Garde, 1930–1960, Bruce Museum, Greenwich, Connecticut, USA
The Bitter Years: Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans Photographs from the Martin Z. Margulies Collection, Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South California, USA
2023
Depth of Field, Pensacola Museum of Art, Florida, USA
Who Are They? Who Am I? Portraits of Artists and Artist Self-Portraits,Bates College, Museum of Art, Maine, USA
The Language Of The Streets, Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Ohio, USA
Outer Harmonies, Rockford Art Museum, Riverfront Museum Park, Rockford, Illinois, USA
Making Your Mark: Prints and Drawings from the Hechinger Collection, The Haggin Museum, Stockton, CA, USA
Photography’s Last Century: The Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee Collection, Telfair Museum, Jepson Center, Savannah, Georgia, USA
Walker Evans: Revisited, Helmond Museum, Helmond, Netherlands
MOMAT Collection, The International Museum of Art, Tokyo, Chiyoda-Ku, Tokyo, Japan
2022
TOP Collection: The Illumination of Life by Death, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Meguro-Ku,Tokyo, Japan
Sculpting Reality. Per Amor a l'Art Collection, PhotoEspaña 2022, Círculo de Bellas Artes & Casa de América, Madrid, Spain
2021
Cruel Radiance: Photography, 1940s–1960s, The MET, New York, USA
American Photography, Albertina, Vienna, Austria
2020
Photography's Last Century: The Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
2019
Moment in Time: A Legacy of Photographs from the Bank of America Collection, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland
Shape of Light: Defining Photographs from the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Poughkeepsie, New York
Howard Greenberg Gallery: From Archive to History, Kunst- und Kulturzentrum der StädteRegion Aachen e. V., Monschau, Germany
We love Photography! 20 Years of Art Collection Deutsche Börse, Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
2018
Doing the Document. Photographs from Diane Arbus to Piet Zwart. The Bartenbach Donation, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany
The Beauty of Lines. Masterpieces from the Sondra Gilman and Celso Gonzalez-Falla collection, Musée de l’Elysée Lausanne, Switzerland
2014
Double Elephant 1973-74: Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Walker Evans, Lee Friedlander, Garry Winogrand, Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne, Germany
Masterpieces from the Howard Greenberg Collection, Jewish Historical Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Constructing Worlds - Photography and Architecture in the Modern Age, Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK
Artificial Light: Flash Photography in the 20th Century, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2013 – 2014
A Democracy of Images, Smithsonian American Art, Washington, D.C.
2013
Howard Greenberg Collection, Fondation Cartier-Bresson, Paris, France (travelling exhibition)
Letzte Bilder. Von Manet bis Kippenberger. Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
2012 – 2013
Der Mensch und seine Objekte, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany
2012
Gaze - The Changing Face of Portrait Photography, Istanbul Modern, Istanbul, Turkey
Landschaft als Weltsicht, Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz, Germany
New York Photography 1890-1950 Bucerius Kunst Forum, Hamburg, Germany
Der Mensch und seine Objekte, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany
La Triennale: Intense Proximity, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
I Spy: Photography and the Theater of the Street, 1938 – 2010, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
2011 – 2012
Picturing The Artist, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington
2011
EXPOSED. Voyeurism, Surveillance, and the Camera since 1870, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota (travelling exhibition)
ATLAS. How to Carry the World on One´s Back?, ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany
Seeing Beauty, Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, California
2010
Polaroid in Peril!, Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland
Surface Tension: Contemporary Photographs from the Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
2009
BIG CITY, Wien Museum, Wien, Austria
Street & Studio, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany
2008
Henri Cartier-Bresson / Walker Evans - Photographier l'Amérique (1929-1947), Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, Paris, France
2007
VIP: Very Important Photographs 1840s-1940s, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia
2006
Short Stories, National Museum of Photography, Copenhagen, Denmark
2004
Documentary and anti-graphic Photographs, Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, Paris, France
2003 – 2004
Cruel and Tender. Fotografie und das Wirkliche, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany
Cruel and Tender. Fotografie und das Wirkliche, Tate Modern, London, UK
2001
Walker Evans and Company: Works from the MoMa, Museum of Modern Art, New York
The American Tradition and Walker Evans: Photographs from the Getty Collection, The Paul J. Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California
1981
Walker Evans and Robert Frank: An Essay on Influence, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut
1979
Photography Rediscovered: American Photographs 1900-1930, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
1978
The Presence of Walker Evans, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts
1977
Photographs from the Julien Levy Collection, Starting with Atget, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
1974
Photography Unlimited, The Fogg Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
1972
Eleven American Photographers, Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York
1962
The Bitter Years 1935-41, Museum of Modern Art, New York
1956
Diogenes with a Camera III, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
1939
Art in Our Time, Museum of Modern Art, New York
1937
Photography 1839-1937, Museum of Modern Art, New York
1935
Documentary and Anti-Graphic: Photographs by Cartier-Bresson, Evans, and Alvarez Bravo, Julien Levy Gallery, New York
1932
Walker Evans and George Platt Lynes, Julien Levy Gallery, New York
Modern Photography at Home and Abroad, Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York
International Photographers, Brooklyn Museum, New York
1931
Photography by Three Americans, John Becker Gallery, New York
1930
International Photography, Harvard Society for Contemporary Art, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Selected Bibliography
2016
Thomas Zander (Ed.): Walker Evans. Labor Anonymous, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne, Germany
2015
Thomas Zander (Ed.): Double Elephant, Steidl Publishers, Göttingen, Germany
2012
The Search for a Democratic Aesthetics: Robert Rauschenberg, Walker Evans, William Carlos Williams / Alexander Leicht, In: American Studies, Heidelberg, Germany
2010
Walker Evans. Decade by Decade, exh. cat., Hatje Cantz Verlag, Berlin/Ostfildern/Stuttgart, Germany
2009
Walker Evans and the Picture Postcard, exh. cat., Steidl Publishers, Göttingen, Germany
2006
Leicht, Michael: Wie Katie Tingle sich weigerte, ordentlich zu posieren und Walker Evans darüber nicht grollte, Eine kritische Bildbetrachtung sozialdokumentarischer Fotografie, Transcript, Bielefeld, Germany
2002
Rosenheim, Jeff L. : Walker Evans - Polaroids, Scalo Verlag, Zurich, Switzerland
1995
Keller, Judith: Walker Evans, The Getty Museum Collection, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California
1993
Mora, Gilles and John T. Hill, Walker Evans: The Hungry Eye, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York
1991
Brix, Michael / Birgit Mayer (Ed.), Walker Evans America. Essay by Michael Brix, Rizzoli, New York
1990
Walker Evans. Photo Poche #45. Introduction par Gilles Mora, Centre National de la Photographie, Paris, France
1989
Mora, Gilles, Walker Evans: Havana 1933. Sequence by John T. Hill, Thames and Hudson, London, UK
Mora, Gilles, Walker Evans, Belfond/Paris Audiovisuel, Paris, France
1982
Walker Evans at Work: 745 Photographs Together with Documents Selected From Letters, Memoranda, Interviews, Notes. With an essay by Jerry L. Thompson, Harper and Row, New York
1979
Walker Evans, Introduction by Llloyd Fonvielle, Millerton, Aperture, New York
1976
A Vision SHared: A Classic Portrait of America and Ist People, 1935-1943. Foreword by Bernarda Shahn; afterword by Paul S. Taylor, St. Martin's Press, New York
1973
Walker Evans, Photographs for the Farm Security Administration, 1935-1938. A Catalog of Prints Available from the Farm Security Administration, Collection in the Library of Congress, Introduction by Jerald C. Maddox, Da Capo Press, New York
1971
Walker Evans, Introduction by John Szarkowski , Museum of Modern Art, New York
1966
Evans, Walker, Message from the Interior. Afterwords by John Szarkowski, Eakins Press, New York
Evans, Walker, Many Are Called. With an introduction by James Agee, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, Massachusetts
1952
Radlin, Paul and James Johnson Sweeney. African Folktales and Sculpture, Pantheon Books, New York
1941
Agee, James and Walker Evans. Let us Now Praise Famous Men: Three Tenant Families, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, Massachusetts
1938
Evans, Walker. American Photographs. With an essay by Lincoln Kirstein, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Public Collections
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Fogg Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
Museum of Modern Art, New York
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Peabody Essex Museum, Massachusetts
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York