Subway Portrait 1938 - 1941

Walker Evans captured this image, Subway Portrait, at an unknown date, probably with a large format camera, but who knows? In this frame, a man sits in a New York subway carriage, engrossed in his newspaper. I imagine Walker Evans with his big camera hidden, or not, among the other passengers, quietly observing. What was he looking for? There is something about the way the man is holding the paper, a kind of stiffness, a need for information. It reminds me of the German photographer August Sander, who also documented people in a very straight-forward way. Evans and Sander, they are both asking questions about who we are, and the strange business of being human. It’s like they’re saying to each other, “I see you, I recognize this, don’t worry.” It’s this human connection that makes you think and see more.