About this artwork
Before holding his own one-person show at the Museum of Modern Art, Walker Evans was commissioned by that museum to document their ambitious exhibition of African sculpture. The 1935 exhibition emphasized the works’ formal qualities, a then-radical approach to presenting African art. Evans photographed the sculptures after museum hours with an 8 × 10–inch camera, carefully rotating light sources during exposure to eliminate shadows and emphasize sculptural shapes. In the darkroom, he made contact prints from negatives tightly trimmed to the shape of their subjects. The resulting images are deceptively straightforward. They advance what Evans later described as his “documentary style”: photography that, though highly intentional, gives the impression of “detachment and record.”
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Status
- Currently Off View
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Department
- Photography and Media
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Artist
- Walker Evans
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Title
- African Sculpture [Bamileke figure, Njuindem. “Bangwa Queen,” Bangwa Kingdon, Cameroon]
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Place
- United States (Object made in)
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Date
- Made 1935
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Medium
- Gelatin silver print
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Dimensions
- Image/paper: 23 × 10.2 cm (9 1/16 × 4 1/16 in.)
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Credit Line
- Purchased with funds provided by John A. Bross in memory of Louise Smith Bross
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Reference Number
- 2016.124
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.
