Walker Evans

flush-mounted, mounted again to a sheet of loose-leaf paper, signed in pencil and with 'Part One #3 Faces, Pennsylvania Town 1936' and numerical notations in ink and pencil on the secondary mount, 1935

Christie's New York, 4 October 2001, Sale 9754, Lot 13

Walker Evans, American Photographs (The Museum of Modern Art, 1988 edition), Part One, pl. 3

Gilles Mora and John T. Hill, Walker Evans: The Hungry Eye (New York, 1993), pp. 137 and 178

Jeff Rosenheim, Maria Morris Hambourg, Douglas Eklund, and Mia Fineman, Walker Evans (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000), pl. 51

Tod Papageorge, Walker Evans and Robert Frank: An Essay on Influence (Yale University Art Gallery, 1977), p. 54

David Campany, Walker Evans: The Magazine Work (Göttingen, 2014), p. 25

This early print is flush-mounted and mounted again to the original hole-punched loose-leaf paper mount that Evans used in a maquette for his 1938 publication, 'American Photographs.' It is in remarkably very good condition for a print that was undoubtedly handled often. An uneven, faint surface sheen is visible in raking light, suggesting that this print was coated. The print is trimmed to the image, and there is minor chipping, edge, and corner wear. The loose-leaf paper mount is heavily soiled and the corners are creased. It measures 11 by 8½ inches. The following are written in an unidentified hand: 'S' [in red crayon]; '3' [in pencil]; and '97.5' [in pencil]. On the reverse of the mount, 'H2416-86 / 86' and other illegible notations are in an unidentified hand in pencil.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The print offered here of Faces, Pennsylvania Town (Johnstown), is on the original, hole-punched, loose-leaf mount that Evans used in a maquette for his landmark monograph, American Photographs.  Originally published in 1938 by The Museum of Modern Art, in conjunction with Evans’s first major museum exhibition, American Photographs remains a definitive pictorial survey of America in the wake of the Great Depression.    

Although dated 1936 in American Photographs and on the present mount, this photograph was likely taken in the fall of 1935.  In July and November of that year, Evans, newly hired by the Resettlement Administration, traveled through the industrial towns of Pennsylvania, among them Johnstown, a small town 70 miles east of Pittsburgh.  Although a number of his photographs for the Resettlement Administration and Farm Security Administration were taken with a view camera, the present image is an enlargement from 35mm film, the format Evans often used when photographing people.  The 35mm film negative for the image offered here is now in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

Faces, Pennsylvania Town, was included in both the exhibition and the book of American Photographs.   It appears early in the sequencing of Part One, immediately following the famous License Photo Studios and the Penny Picture Display.  Many of the prints from Evans’s American Photographs maquette, similarly-mounted and captioned, are owned by the J. Paul Getty Museum, formerly in the collection of Arnold Crane, with several others at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.