Shaffers Crossing, Norfolk & Western Railroad Yards at Roanoke, Va.
Artist
Walker Evans
(American, 1903-1975)
CultureAmerican
Date1958
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsOverall, Image: 10 13/16 × 10 1/2 in. (27.5 × 26.7 cm)
Oveall, Paper: 13 7/8 × 11 in. (35.2 × 27.9 cm)
Overall, Mat: 24 × 20 in. (61 × 50.8 cm)
Oveall, Paper: 13 7/8 × 11 in. (35.2 × 27.9 cm)
Overall, Mat: 24 × 20 in. (61 × 50.8 cm)
InscribedFortune stamp and stamp with story name, date, photographer and caption with other notations in pencil on print verso.
Credit LineMuseum purchase, in memory of Alice R. and Sol. B. Frank
Object number99.23
Not on view
DescriptionA black and white print of the side of a steam engine. It is formally done with journalistic intent.Label TextWalker Evans American (1903-1975) Shaffers Crossing, Norfolk & Western Railroad Yards at Roanoke, Virginia, 1958 Gelatin-silver print Purchase, in memory of Alice R. and Sol B. Frank 99.23 Walker Evans was responsible for the emergence in 1930s American photography of a new, more literary and less dramatic conception of documentary description. Drawing upon the work of Eugène Atget, Evans made head-on, highly detailed images of Americans and the material manifestations of their indigenous cultures. He was employed by the Farm Security Administration from 1935 to 1937, and, in 1938, published his now classic book, American Photographs in conjunction with a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. During the summer of 1936 he photographed an Alabama sharecropper's family that resulted in a 1941 collaborative book with James Agee entitled, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. Other important books included photographs for Carleton Beals' The Crime of Cuba, 1933, and images of New York subway riders entitled Many Are Called, 1966; he additionally photographed for Time and Fortune magazines from 1943 to 1965. This photograph was made while on assignment for Fortune. Edited By: GLY Edited Date: 09/2004 Approved By: MHM Approval Date: 09/21/2005Exhibition History"Walker Evans at Fortune (1945-1965)" Gallery 292, Wooster Street, New York, NY, November - December, 1999. "Photography Speaks," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., Alice R. and Sol B. Frank Photo Galleries, September 4, 2004 - January 2, 2005.
