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Sidewalk and Shopfront, New Orleans

A work made of gelatin silver print.

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  • A work made of gelatin silver print.

Date:

February/March 1935

Artist:

Walker Evans
American, 1903–1975

About this artwork

Walker Evans is widely recognized as a key figure in documentary photography. His simple yet poignant photographs of the American vernacular—including hand-painted signs, quiet domestic interiors, and small-town street scenes—came together in his landmark 1938 exhibition and publication, American Photographs. Evans created nearly two-thirds of the images in the book during his travels through the South, beginning with a two-month visit to New Orleans in early 1935. A New York businessman had hired Evans to produce a book of photographs on the decaying neoclassical architecture of riverfront plantation houses. Although the project was never realized, Evans’s forays into the city’s French Quarter resulted in some of his most iconic images. This photograph of a Bourbon Street barbershop’s exterior, covered with mismatched stripes, is slightly cropped in the book; this particular print presents a fuller view of the scene to the top, right, and bottom.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Photography and Media

Artist

Walker Evans

Title

Sidewalk and Shopfront, New Orleans

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1935

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Inscriptions

Unmarked recto; verso unchecked

Dimensions

Image/paper/mount: 23.7 × 18.1 cm (9 3/8 × 7 3/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of David C. and Sarajean Ruttenberg

Reference Number

1991.1232

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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