The Last Years of Walker Evans Jerry L. Thompson Thames & Hudson, 1997

Review by Sean Flynt

The last two decades have been good to students and fans of Walker Evans, one of the most important artists ever to work in the medium of photography. We've enjoyed significant (and expensive!) retrospective volumes, reprints of Evans's books, and at least one significant biography. It's appropriate attention to an enormous talent most often represented by images of Alabama tenant farm families, vernacular American architecture, and the earnest artifacts of everyday life.

Although Evans is in no immediate danger of being Ansel Adams-ized, with poster-size reproductions of his work available at every shopping mall, it's not difficult to find his work. Surprisingly, it is more difficult to find thorough biographical information about the artist. Belinda Rathbone's recent contribution in this area, Walker Evans: Message From the Interior, offered cradle-to-grave coverage of Evans's life, but seemed somewhat cold and detached. However, it also seemed to reflect both Evans's public persona and the cool directness of his artistic vision. Without any comparison, one could be forgiven for thinking of Rathbone's effort as the last word on Evans's life.

Then, along came Jerry L. Thompson, Evans's student, assistant, friend, keeper, and author of The Last Years of Walker Evans. In contrast to Rathbone's over-emphasis on the occasionally sordid details of the artist's private life, Thompson does much to humanize Evans without demeaning him or treading too heavily on the artist's grave. In fact, although it is not explicitly stated in the book, The Last Years of Walker Evans may be a direct response to the Rathbone biography. One can only wonder at whom the following passage, from the close of Thompson's book, is directed:

"...may (Evans) rest in peace-that is to say, unvexed by meddlesome studies that dwell on messy personal details and ignore the complex greatness of his work, and its central role in any! reasonable account of his life. And cursed be any whose inept, reductive, or mean-spirited scribblings disturb that well-earned rest."

But lest anyone fear that The Last Years of Walker Evans is a superficial panegyric, be assured that "dwell" is the key word in the previous quotation. Thompson does not dwell on Evans's personal flaws, but neither does he overlook them. In the tradition of Evans's straightforward photographs, Thompson merely presents information he feels is important in some way, then moves along. Oh, occasionally he betrays his formal education by over-intellectualizing Evans's work or artistic motivations, but such instances are infrequent and usually followed by his admission that postmodern, deconstructionist theories fail to account for either Evans's native gifts or the great impact of his art.

As Evans's student and personal (but not too personal) friend from 1971 until the artist's death in 1975, Thompson is uniquely qualified to write this insightful and touching account. As a photographer who accompanied Evans on his working excursions, printed Evans's work, and generally served as a willing tool in the service of Evans's creativity, Thompson is also an informed and thoughtful student of the artist's later work. These traits, combined with Thompson's crisp writing, brevity, and deeply-felt concern for Evans, make The Last Years of Walker Evans a must-have for anyone interested in the life and work of this tremendously influential artist.

This book gives an excellent example of Walker Evans. It shows the reader not only his style but also his feelings. The photos prove that Walker Evans is one of the greatest photographers of all time.

Can't quite give it 5 stars because Agee's self-indulgence does get to me (Evans, though is flawless). The indulgence I speak of is not so much the Agee's overdescription of his own mental states, though this can be intrusive and less than profound, but the too frequent willingness to let language and imagination take flight from reality, when reality, ultimately, is what is so compelling here. Imagination and trustworthiness unnecessarily depart ways, as Agee at times prefers the poetic to the truth. Nonetheless, the decision not to hem in those very flights of empathetic understanding that may depart from specific reality surely allowed him to give the essential breath and life to the portraiture. The perhaps more accurate, but much less illuminating, 1989 followup by Maharidge & Williamson (discussed below) is a useful contrast - all facts, rather little life. And one after all knows, reading Agee, that he probably hasn't quite got everything right; despite the book's inescapable flaws, it (and the marvelous photos) achieves the much deeper task of bringing these people to life and making outsiders understand their dignity in the face of poverty, even where that dignity is expressed in perverse ways (though sometimes seeing dignity when further investigation or more honest reporting, as Maharidge found with the Rickets, would have acknowledged more distressing truths).

But just adding a review to point the curious to a 1989 followup, And Their Children After Them, by Dale Maharidge and Michael Williamson, which traces what became of the Gudgers, Woodses, Rickets, and their descendants (they keep the pseudonyms, though the names are elsewhere widely known - Burroughs, Fields, and Tingle (or Tengle)). The newer book certainly does not have the poetry of the original, and it is out of print, but it's worth checking out of your local library if you're left haunted wondering whatever became of the people Agee made you care so deeply about (and how much he got right).

Many people argue about Agee's complex text. The entire body of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men is written in a kind of highly emotional euphoria in which Agee combines his own thoughts and perceptions with exhaustive description of the world around him. His intense feeling causes the writing to be, by conventional grammatical standards, virtually unreadable. Once the reader gets past his chapter-long sentences and widely varying themes, however, the book emerges as one of the greatest written accomplishments of the 20th century.

While the nominal subject of the documentary is an in-depth exploration of three tenant farming families during the Great Depression, the real project (and Agee himself admits this in his remarkably confessional prose) is the documentation of his own experience living with those farmers for several weeks--sleeping in their vermin-infested beds, eating their home-cooked food, and interacting with them on a human level. In addition, Agee self-consciously writes the text and explores the act of writing, both during his stay with the farmers and several years later, when he completed the vast majority of the book.

The final product is a patchwork book pieced together from Biblical prayer, Evans's photographs, Agee's flawless descriptions (which, in several cases, may be more accurate than Evans's probably manipulated prints) and meditations on writing, poverty, art, and day-to-day human experience. Two things make this work remarkable: Agee's honesty (he never claims to be objective or non-judgemental) and his innate talent for description. I approached this book with an open mind, and found it to be one of the most thoughtful and rewarding works I have ever read.

a remarkable use of the english language. agee takes you places you thought impossible through his astounding use of language. the prose is exhilirating and mind expanding. he takes free-form writing to new heights and just as aptly tells the tragic story of three alabama tenant families. you must read this book. it is, in a word, significant.

This is incredibly nice work of one of the most prominent philosophers of our time. Evan Harris Walker writes about the connection between such complex subjects as Consciousness, Meaning of Life, God and Quantum Physics but he does it in simple and understandable manner. This is truly a new religion of 21st Century - a religion of common sense. This is a religion for most of modern nonbelievers, who cannot accept God in traditional sense because of their rational scientific minds, but who constantly think about meaning of life. If we want to advance on our eternal journey of progress with the same speed as before then there is no other way than investigating the phenomenon of God from scientific point of view. Unless we understand the physics of what people for centuries meant by word God we just cannot proceed further.

The meaning of this book is difficult to overestimate. Evan Harris Walker using his powerful emotional attitude and strict scientific approach created an invaluable information source, which through the minds of the individual readers makes our Global Consciousness - Our Global Collective Mind think about these issues more effectively, analyze them and find long-awaited answers to such eternal questions as What is God?, How to Connect to God?, etc. A Must Read!

Physics of Consciousness is a superbly presented survey of the quantum mind and the meaning of life as Evan Walker examines the nature of reality and consciousness, from theories that the brain can create reality to connections between physics and subjectivity. Walker is versed in both Zen philosophy and quantum physics and clearly explains how the properties of physics help explain reality.

I think that some linguistic clarification is still needed (after my 11/9/00 comments) about objectivity in The Physics of Consciousness.

Eugene Wigner (in 1960) presented a highly-referred-to discussion, entitled "The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Physical Sciences". He was referring to the commonly-held viewpoint that there was no reasonable way to explain how our mathematical descriptions of the objective world could be related to the (Platonic) mathematical capability of individual minds. Indeed, such a viewpoint would be expected if there were a material world which is independent of individual minds. However, for a one-world view where consciousness is the fundamental reality, shared by individual minds and a Universal Mind, this effectiveness is reasonable. It could be due to manifestations (e.g., objective world) of the Universal Mind reflecting features (e.g., Platonic capabilities) which are shared by individual minds. Walker would reject the unreasonable objectivity of a physical world which our minds can interact with and precisely describe, when that world is independent of our minds. He would accept the reasonable objectivity of a one-world view with consciousness as the fundamental reality, shared by individual minds and the Universal Mind.

Wigner became convinced in the 1960's, through his deep understanding of quantum physics, that consciousness was an ultimate reality. However, he did not pursue his insight into the role of consciousness. Walker has pursued that quest, and it is presented in a highly-readable form in The Physics of Consciousness.

In the 2nd installment of the Evan Horne mysteries, Bill Moody sets his hero in the neon snakepit of Las Vegas, where an old friend sends Evan on a mission to solve a 37-year-old murder. But doing so peels back layers of Las Vegas history, opening old wounds that someone is willing to kill to keep covered... As in Solo Hand, Bill Moody assembles a vivid cast of characters and plays out a twisted story-line like a jazz virtuoso with murderous chops that include the fate of tenor saxophonist Wardell Gray and the real history of the Moulin Rouge, as well as a handful of subplots that Moody deftly ties together in a coolly musical climax. For all its brooding authenticity, regarding both jazz and Las Vegas, Death of a Tenor Man is a fast-paced and well-wrought mystery.

Whether you like the era of the 1930's or not, this book will give you a feel for the time and the places traveled by photographer Walker Evans. The photographs are superb technically, but it is the subjects that will remain in your memory long after you close the book. Evans's subjects are captured with dignity, and although you might be inclined to feel sorry for them, you are inevitably touched by the strength of these people. The book is a good introduction to Walker Evans and his feel for the human condition. His photographs remind me alot of Dorothea Lange's.

Excellent biography by Belinda Rathbone of Walker Evans, one of the best photographers of his time. I read this in 1 week, could'nt put it down. He lived a fascinating life and the author provides a detailed account of his family background, childhood and school years thru his year abroad in Paris and then the start of his photography career in New York. His creative influences, career milestones, relationships and all other events of his life are chronicled in an interesting, easy to read style. I definately recommend it for anyone interested in wanting to learn and understand more about Walker Evans, or anyone with an interest in black & white photography.

"Walker Evans: Florida," following on the heels of last year's "Walker Evans: Signs," is the second volume in what I hope will become a series from the J.Paul Getty Museum. Revealing as well as entertaining, it presents the Getty's holdings of Florida photographs that Evans made on assignment in 1941 for "The Mangrove Coast," with text by Karl Bickel, published the following year. This is a lesser-known body of Evans's work, somewhat overshadowed by his monumental document of the Great Depression collected in the files of the Library of Congress, and in the pages of innumerable volumes since his original "American Photographs" and Let Us Now Praise Famous Men." The value of this small volume is that Evans's excellant Florida work is now back in print; and if his whole career is ever to be properly evaluated, then all of its facets must be fully examined. My only criticism is with the book's design and layout. As with "Walker Evans: Signs," the photographs are often guttered and bled off the edge of the page, and the type is laid out in such an artsy way that it is often confusing. Evans would not have approved. The enjoyable introductory essay by Robert Plunket adeptly balances information about Evans and West Florida, with personal experiences of the author, a long time Sarasota resident. This is a book that all serious students of Evans will want to have.

I bought this book as a present for my grandparents who are native Cubans. Cuba is a beautiful country with some of the most amazing art, food, music, people, and architecture. This book shows nothing of that Cuba. If you want to see photographs of people living in poverty, than this book is for you. If you want to see the real Cuba, look elsewhere. The photography itself is decent, but the subject matter is just shameful.

Everybody knows the stereotype all too well of the joyous Cubans, with their 8-day Carnavals, incredible music and high culture. As someone who visits the island frequently (my wife lives there) the happiness of the people is so uplifting. The suicide rate is so much lower there. The murder rate is way below that of the US. It is a cocaine-free society because of all of the anti-cocaine canine patrols in the major cities. It's really a revelation being there. No drugs, no homelessness (the right to shelter is guaranteed under the Cuban constitution), a LOWER infant mortality rate than the United States, more doctors per capita than Canada, Sweden, and the US, a 97 per cent literacy rate.

This book however is a REAL eye-opener. I have only experienced Cuba after President Castro took office. I have only seen his good work in a country where EVERY schoolhouse now contains at least one Pentium III computer or better (don't you wish you could say the same about the USA?).

The fotos inside this book are unbelievable. Absolute abject shoeless, starvation poverty, photos taken from a pre-Castro Cuba. Looks like modern day Haiti, a country which has subjected to US policies from Papa Doc, to Baby Doc, to Aristide, all handpicked by the CIA and look what a mess that country is.

These fotos and the commentary inside are a revelation. If you EVER wondered why the people revolted and continue to adore President Castro, buy this book! These fotos don't lie. There is NO ONE living like this in present-day Cuba....

Walker Evans was one of the greatest social realists and here he displays the same eye for understated emotion and quiet resistance that he showed in his famous WPA photographs in the American South. If you're familiar with the work of the visionary Brazilian Sebastião Salgado, Evans shows an earlier, perhaps gentler aspect of that vision of Latin America's poor.

The idea that photographing the poor in pre-revolutionary Cuba is "shameful" is in itself shameful. Did you want pictures of gangsters in nightclubs living the high life?

This book would be a good choice for a set designer interested in 30's exteriors. There are great photos of signage, rundown storefronts, churches, one or two fields and a couple of interiors. This shouldn't be your only resource but is a worthy addition to your collection.