New York City 1929 - 1930

Walker Evans made this photograph, New York City, sometime in the middle of the 20th century, a scene of everyday life, captured in shades of grey. It's a small thing, really, just a moment plucked from the stream of time, fixed onto a piece of paper. I wonder what Evans was thinking as he snapped this picture? Was he drawn to the woman's contemplative pose, her finger gently touching her lip in thought? Or perhaps it was the man's confident stance, cigarette dangling from his mouth, that caught his eye. There's a whole world in their faces, a story waiting to be told. What I love about Evans' work is his attention to the details of life. Like other artists of his generation, he saw beauty in the ordinary, finding poetry in the everyday struggles and joys of people. I like to imagine all these artists in conversation with each other, sharing ideas and influencing each other’s vision. It's kind of beautiful, isn't it? The way art keeps evolving, morphing, and reinventing itself as artists respond to each other's work.