From mid 1935 to early 1937, Walker Evans worked for the historical unit of the Farm Security Administration to create a photographic survey of rural America during the Great Depression. Evans was sent to Hale County, Alabama in the summer of 1936, along with James Agee. There the duo stayed with three impoverished white tenant families, documenting the experience in text and photographs that were later published in the revolutionary book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.
Evans set out to capture regional dialects and colloquialisms now lost to time. In this photograph we see the once ubiquitous roadside stand that used to dominate American highways, where purveyors of local produce and odds and ends would set up shop. Evans clearly harbors an interest in type and linguistics, featured prominently in this photo. What we see in this photograph recalls a bygone era before the advent of neons and standardized fonts. The quirky type and images present on the front of the store read as naive and wholesome; they reference a time before rampant consumerism and slick, well packaged eateries. Without having been conscious of it at the time, Evans created an image that ignites a longing for traditional, rustic Americana, and the perfectly imperfect.
+ Limited-edition, exclusive to 20x200
+ Museum quality: archival inks, 100% cotton rag paper unless noted
+ Handcrafted custom-framing is available
Our quoted dimensions are for the size of paper containing the images, not the printed image itself. We do not alter the aspect ratio, nor do we crop or resize the artists’ originals. All of our prints have a minimum border of .5 inches to allow for framing.
Medium:
Innova Fibaprint Warm Cotton Gloss
Edition Structure:
10"x8" | edition of 20
14"x11" | edition of 250
20"x16" | edition of 50
30"x24" | edition of 10
