Untitled (subway portrait of man with hat)

Artist Walker Evans (American, 1903 - 1975)

Dateca. 1941

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsImage and sheet: 6 11/16 × 6 13/16 inches (16.99 × 17.3 cm)
Mount: 10 1/4 × 7 7/8 inches (26.04 × 20 cm)

Credit LineGift of Hallmark Cards, Inc.

Object number2005.27.3960

SignedSigned on mount recto, lower right, in pencil: "Walker Evans"; Artist's stamp on mount recto, lower right, in black ink: "WALKER EVANS / 1681 YORK AVENUE / NEW YORK, N.Y. 10028"; Artist's stamp on mount verso, center, in black ink: "WALKER EVANS / 1681 YORK AVENUE / NEW YORK, N.Y. 10028"

Inscribednone

MarkingsOn mount verso, center, in black pen: "1-17 #1"; On mount verso, bottom, in pencil: "16-19-91"

On View

Not on view

Collections

Photography

Terms

DescriptionPortrait of an African Amercican man in a dark coat, a checked scarf, and wide brimmed hat with dark trim.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Faces: an Exhibition from the Hallmark Photographic Collection. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, September 16 - October 21, 1984, no. 43

Surveillance. The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO. September 16, 2016 – January 29, 2017, no cat.

Gallery Label

Between 1938 and 1941, Walker Evans began to photograph subway riders in New York City. He worked covertly, using a camera hidden under his coat, its lens peeking out between two buttons. This approach allowed Evans to catch his subject unaware when, as he described it, “the guard is down and the mask is off.” In portraits such as this, Evans catches people lost in their own thoughts and moods.

Provenance

Douglas Drake Gallery, Kansas City, MO;
Purchased from Douglas Drake Gallery by Hallmark Cards, Inc., Kansas City, MO, 1991;
Given by Hallmark Cards, Inc. to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2005.

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