Walker Evans - Photographs New York Wednesday, October 11, 2023 | Phillips
  • In 1935, Walker Evans was commissioned to photograph the exhibition African Negro Art at the Museum of Modern Art. Organized by Alfred H. Barr Jr., then director of MoMA, with curatorial oversight provided by James Johnson Sweeney, the exhibition comprised 603 sculptures on loan from various institutions and private collections. The show endeavored to depart from ethnographic art displays typical for the time and, instead, emphasize the artistic qualities of the sculpture by drawing parallels to modern art. Barr believed that the artwork ought to be photographed and used for educational purposes. After securing funding from the General Education Board of the Rockefeller Foundation, Evans was hired and began photographing in mid-April. He produced an edition of 17 portfolios featuring 477 pictures each. Most of the sets were given to historically Black colleges and universities, while a few were sold to institutions.

     

    “The Museum has engaged Walker Evans to make the photographs for the collection. A successful photographer of sculpture, Mr. Evans is perhaps more widely known for his documentary photographs of the recent Cuban revolt and for his photographic record of 19th century American houses, of which the Museum has a collection.”
    —Excerpt from a press release for African Negro Art

     

    Importantly, Evans’ renderings of the exhibition contributed to his long-standing relationship with MoMA. During 1938, he became the first photographer to have a solo exhibition at the museum Walker Evans: American Photographs. Decades later in 1971, Director of Photography, John Szarkowski, curated a major retrospective of Evans’ work.

    • Provenance

      Shashi Caudill Photographs and Fine Art, Chicago

    • Catalogue Essay

      The photographs included in this lot are as follows:

      Figure, French Congo
      Figure (Back View), French Congo

28

Selected Studies of African Sculpture

1935
Two gelatin silver prints.
7 3/8 x 4 in. (18.7 x 10.2 cm); 8 1/8 x 4 in. (20.6 x 10.2 cm)
Each credited and annotated 'from MoMA's exh - 1935 "African Negro Art"' in an unidentified hand in pencil on the reverse of the mount.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
$2,000 - 3,000 

Sold for $2,540

Contact Specialist

Sarah Krueger
Head of Department, Photographs
skrueger@phillips.com

 

Vanessa Hallett
Worldwide Head of Photographs and Chairwoman, Americas
vhallett@phillips.com

Photographs

New York Auction 11 October 2023