David Campany

Jerry L. Thompson

Heinz Liesbrock

"Walker Evans (1903-1975) is one of the most important photographers of the twentieth century and has influenced contemporary art beyond his medium until today. In 1938 the Museum of Modern Art in New York dedicated its first ever solo photography exhibition to Evans's work, and he has shaped America's image of itself particularly through his photographs of the Great Depression. The publication Walker Evans: Labor Anonymous is the first in-depth investigation into a series of the same name, which Evans published in Fortune magazine in 1946. On a Saturday afternoon in Detroit, Evans positioned himself with his Rolleiflex camera on the sidewalk and photographed pedestrians, mostly laborers, in his characteristically clear and unadorned way - an aesthetic he described as the "documentary style". As in his earlier series, e.g. in the famous Subway Portraits from the New York underground, his subjects were often unaware they were being photographed, but some of the pedestrians also looked straight into the camera. Representing much more than a simple typology, this photographic series does not offer a preconceived image of humankind or class, but - as foreshadowed in its ambiguous title - encourages critical reflection on such concepts. This publication anchors the series in Evans's oeuvre and presents a selection of more than fifty photographs from the series along with contact sheets, drafts for an unpublished text, notes, and letters from the Walker Evans Archive at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York"--

Labor Anonymous

John T. Hill

This resplendent volume is the most comprehensive study of Walker Evans's work ever published, containing masterful images accompanied by authoritative commentary from leading photography historians. The name Walker Evans conjures images of the American everyman. Whether it's his iconic contributions to James Agee's depressionera classic book, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, his architectural explorations of antebellum plantations, or his subway series, taken with a camera hidden in his coat, Evans's accessible and eloquent photographs speak to us all. This comprehensive book traces the entire arc of Evans's remarkable career, from the 1930s to the 1970s. The illustrations in the book range from his earliest images taken with a vest pocket camera to his final photos using the then new SX-70 because his regular equipment had become too heavy to carry around. The book includes commentary from three of Evans's longtime friends, photographers John T. Hill and Jerry Thompson and professor emeritus (Yale University) Alan Trachtenberg. Their insight and first-hand experience give depth to their critical writings on Evans's work. In addition to offering a broad perspective on Evans's work, the book also clarifies the photographer's "anti-art" philosophy. Eschewing aesthetic hyperbole, Evans wanted his pictures to resonate with a wide audience. At the same time, his natural curiosity made him one of the most inventive photographers of all time. What these photographs and writings attest to is a huge and timeless talent, which came not from a camera, but from Evans's uniquely hungry eye.

Depth of Field

Walker Evans

Thomas Weski

Sprengel Museum Hannover

A collection of photographs by some of the most influential photographers of the twentieth century which demonstrate the wide range of techniques that have been used by photographers during the past one hundred years.

Photographs of the 20th Century

How You Look at it

Josef Albers

Michael Semff

Isabelle Dervaux

Summary: This publication presents a wealth of in part unknown colored works on paper by Josef Albers (1888-1976), documented for the first time. It was not until the German-born artist emigrated to the U.S. that he emerged as a prominent artist and influential teacher. Beginning in about 1940, Albers allowed himself to be inspired by Mexico's pre-Columbian architecture, sculpture and textile art, which led to a liberation of his aesthetic sensibilities and to unconventional, radiant pitches of color, the likes of which modern painting in Europe had never seen before. In ca. 1950, he discovered the square, in his eyes the ideal form for color. He was both a resolute painter as well as a color philosopher. Each of the works on paper presented here arouses a sensuous fascination for the phenomenality of color.

Josef Albers in America

Painting on Paper

Donald Judd

Brenda Danilowitz

Jeannette Redensek

Michael Beggs

Anni Albers

Ulrike Growe

"Only appearances are not deceiving."--Josef Albers Josef Albers (1888-1976) was one of the leading pioneers of 20th-century modernism: he was an extraordinary teacher, writer, painter, and color theorist, who is best known for the Homages to the Square (painted 1950-76) and The Interaction of Color, published by Yale University Press in 1963. This generously illustrated overview of Albers's work, accompanying the first major exhibition on the artist in more than thirty years, features all aspects of his long, creative career. Beginning with Albers's time at the Bauhaus in Weimar and Dessau, the publication follows the artist to America and describes major themes of his work there as well as the importance of his frequent travels to Mexico. Paintings, prints, furniture, household objects, works in glass, photographs, and pre-Columbian sculptures are beautifully reproduced and discussed by a team of experts. The juxtaposition of Renaissance sculptures and icons with paintings by Albers underlines the intellectual and spiritual dimensions of his art, and Albers's influence on 1960s Minimalist art is also explored. Including a comprehensive biography, the book convincingly demonstrates how this great artist transformed modern design by using line, color, surface, and space to challenge the perception of the viewer.

Interaction

Heinz Liesbrock

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