Walker Evans and Folk Art

Abstract

Walker Evans's photographs captivate viewers with an unalloyed and particulate vision of an America that its inhabitants often take for granted. His strength, which critics have commented on repeatedly, has been to refresh our vision of the commonplace revealing its artlessness as art. In reality, Evans's vision of the artless art of a vernacular America is not artless at all. Rather, he often photographed folk art while using folk art elements to define his own photographic style as peculiarly American. His connections with folk art are numerous and range from his positioning in the American culture of the period, his own interest in collecting signs and postcards, his deliberate recording of such folk art as New England's Victorian architecture, to his use of folk art conventions in his style. In addition to being broadly based in the sense that he was involved with folk art at all levels of his own perception of American culture, Evans's connection to folk art is also quite specific. His interest in this genre is precisely in that area where it is most difficult to define; his collecting, his stylistic adaptations, and his. recording of folk art are all at that intersection where folk art overlaps with popular culture.

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