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Walker Evans — Penny Picture Display, Savannah
Walker Evans

Penny Picture Display, Savannah

A grid of small portrait photographs fills the window display of a photography studio, showcasing the affordable "penny picture" portraits popular among everyday Americans in the 1930s. Evans captures the vernacular commercial culture of the American South with his characteristic documentary precision, transforming a mundane storefront into a study of identity, class, and mass portraiture. The carefully composed image reflects Evans' broader interest in the artifacts of ordinary American life as a form of social and cultural record.

Medium
Gelatin silver print, printed 1950s.

🔨 Auction Lot

Photographs

October 1, 2013

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Spotted works by Walker Evans

About this work

Walker Evans, Penny Picture Display, Savannah

A grid of small portrait photographs fills the window display of a photography studio, showcasing the affordable "penny picture" portraits popular among everyday Americans in the 1930s. Evans captures the vernacular commercial culture of the American South with his characteristic documentary precision, transforming a mundane storefront into a study of identity, class, and mass portraiture. The carefully composed image reflects Evans' broader interest in the artifacts of ordinary American life as a form of social and cultural record.

Medium
Gelatin silver print, printed 1950s.
Seen at
Phillips, New York, London, Hong Kong

Related themes

20th Century, Stoic Mood, Male Artist, Americana, Vernacular Americana, Straight Photography, Documentary Photography, Gelatin Silver Print, American Photographer, Commercial Signage, American Artist, Storefronts, Silver Gelatin Print, Street Photography, Master Photographer, Black and White, Social Realism, Depression Era

More works by Walker Evans

Collected by

Art Institute of Chicago