Walker Evans: Starting from Scratch

... about a subject it is difficult to be thoughtful about. The author points out Evan's inspiration by French Culture, specifically the descriptive style of Flaubert and the photographs of Atget. Also, his motivation to show how objects in the present will look when they are in the past, which is what he definitively did. Lots of subsidiary "aha" moments. Very good but not great reproductions of many of his defining photographs.

This book has a number of images by Walker Evans and other but it is also largely biographical of Walker Evans and the underlying ideas behind his picture making. Remarkably valuable insights into the poetry of his photography. A good read.

The literary angles (Flaubert, Baudelaire) are great entry points for consideration, persuasively presented

It should go without saying that Walker Evans's photographs are extraordinary. I would never have believed that anybody could make them tedious, or a discussion of them tedious, but Svetlana Alpers has managed that. I'm keeping this for the pictures, but I wish I'd bought another one instead, one that doesn't over-explain or stand between the reader and the photos.

Mieux q'une biographie ....cette analyse du travail...de l'oeuvre de Walker Evans est remarquable !!

This is a book which will keep me busy for quite a while. Very few books about photography are researched in this kind of (literary) detail. Really interesting use is made of Evans' own writings, his responses to Atget, Charles Meryon and Baudelaire. Alpers has done the leg-work, read the archival material. Because of the wonderful inclusion of literary and philosophical texts, and biographical minutae this is a really intriguing and rewarding read.I was already a fan of the art historical writings of Alpers. I am really glad that she has given photography this kind of detailed attention.

THe argument that links the photograpy of WE to the writings of Flaubert and Baudelaire seems contrived and fails to convince.Alpers is touched by Evans' "Respect for the dignity of a car (...) It is out of service. The grass and the branches confirm its abandonment and at the same time protect the car." This kind of intellectual kitsch has been around since John Szarkowski’s canonical work since the seventies an integral part of writing about photography.At some point I stopped reading and only looked at the photos.

Svetlana Alpers masterfully teases out the multi-facetted cultural influences that underly his classic and varied photographic output

Well illustrated, well written.highly recommended.