Self Portraits | Walker Evans, 1903-1975
Walker Evans: Self Portrait, 1927 Walker Evans: Self Portrait.
“I say half jokingly that photography is the most difficult of the arts. It does require a certain arrogance to see and to choose. I feel myself walking on a tightrope instead of on the ground.”
“It’s too presumptuous and naïve to think you can change society by a photograph or anything else… I equate that with propaganda; I think that’s a lower rank of purpose.”
“The secret of photography is, the camera takes on the character and personality of the handler.”
Walker Evans, 1903-1975
http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/190017378
[ Walker Evans / Self-portrait , 1927 ]
In the absence of firm knowledge as to the artist's intention in making this self-portrait, one might hypothesize that Evans was testing the shutter speed of his camera, portraying himself as a damned soul in hell, or exploring a way to describe the invisble interface between insanity and genius.
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