Heliker House, Cranberry Island, Maine 1969

Walker Evans made this photograph, Heliker House, Cranberry Island, Maine with a camera, sometime in the mid-20th century, of what looks like the inside of a New England house. I love the austere quality of this image. The off-white walls, the simple wooden furniture, and the single framed picture hanging on the wall create a sense of quiet contemplation. I find myself wondering about the people who lived here. What were their lives like? What stories could these walls tell? I imagine a painter, perhaps, staring at that wall, the nothingness inviting something to emerge. The light in the photograph is soft and diffused, and the composition is balanced and harmonious. Evans had an eye for capturing the beauty in the mundane. He makes me want to slow down and appreciate the simple things in life. It reminds me of Fairfield Porter, another painter of similar scenes! It's amazing how artists keep bumping into one another, even across different mediums, like a secret conversation that echoes through time.