John T. Hill is one of the co-curators of the current Bond Street Gallery show, Walker Evans: Carbon and Silver. A photographer, writer and designer, he serves as the executor of Evans’ estate. He has produced five books about Evans, including Walker Evans at Work and Walker Evans: Lyric Documentary.
How did you first meet Walker Evans? Can you tell me a bit about how he worked?
Herbert Matter, the Swiss photographer/designer introduced me to Walker in 1961. In 1964 he came to teach at the Yale School of Art and Architecture where I was teaching photography. We enjoyed our time together on that faculty.
Walker died in 1975. I served as executor of his estate for the next 19 years. In that time we produced a number of books and exhibitions.
The show at Bond Street Gallery features new prints of many of Evans’s iconic images. Can you explain what these new prints are and what they bring to the table? Many of the images are displayed in a variety of sizes. Can you talk about this curatorial choice?
These are personal interpretations made by Sven Martson and me. They are almost all made from high res scans from contact prints made from WE orig negs that are in the Library of Congress. All of these images are public domain — no copy right issues are involved. In making these we have carefully studied Evans own prints, but more importantly, we have taken as our guide the reproductions which he supervised in his publications. Unlike the expected models of Edward Weston, Ansel Adams and the majority of other photographers who saw/see darkroom work as a major part of creative process, Evans gladly accepted the prints made by his assistants or professional labs. This is not for lack of interest, because he demanded good work, but he was not a believer in the necessity of the ultimate definitive print. For him the concept and the revelations of the subject were sufficiently strong without precious presentation.
Evans made prints of various sizes throughout his life. The 8 x 10 inch contact print was a matter of convenience more than final choice. To afford an enlarger of that size during his early career was unimaginable. But one could easily turn a kitchen or bathroom into a place for making contact prints. We like the large prints for two obvious reasons. At that larger size they give access to the wealth of detail which Evans valued. And secondly, to change scale in exhibition relieves the monotony of all same size prints.
As a curator I have made sequences and groupings for various reasons. The nine churches is an obvious references to the Becher’s process of collecting multiple images around one subject, {example, water towers) which they present as a grid. They openly claimed Evans as their major inspiration. So, I liked the idea of showing that in 1936 Evans had come across the same idea, even though he may never have shown the pieces as a grid. Other groups are about signs and vernacular advertising, and vernacular architecture.
Can you talk a bit about where Evans drew inspiration? What kind of influence do you see his work having on contemporary photographers? Are there specific photographers that you see drawing from Evans?
Photographers who claim Evans as a major influence are — Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, Diane Arbus, Gary Winogrand to name a only few of the well known in this country.
In Europe there is an entire “school” of photography based pretty much on Evans’ style. It began in Dusseldorf, with the teaching of Bernd and Hilla Becher. They taught Gursky and Struth, and perhaps Ruff. They in turn have passed the style to others
If we need to name one artist who shaped Evans’ vision, that would be the French photographer, Eugène Atget. He is considered the father of modern photography, at least the photography that I value.
