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Alabama Cotton Tenant Farmer Wife

Photography

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Alabama Cotton Tenant Farmer Wife

Artwork Details

Artist/Maker

Walker Evans
American, 1903–1975

Date

1936, printed 1971

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Accession #

74.82 L

Dimensions

9 5/16 x 7 1/4 inches

Location

Currently Not on View

Description

This portrait was made by Walker Evans during the summer of 1936 when he and writer James Agee were on assignment for Fortune magazine. Their story on tenant farmers in the South was finally released as a book in 1941, “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men”. Critics of the time hailed the “naked realism” of Evans’ stark portrayals, which would become iconic representations of American farming communities stricken by poverty during the Great Depression.

Credit

Purchase with funds from a friend of the Museum

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