“License Photo Studio, New York, 1934”
…by Walker Evans.
A ghost world.
A place of action, of instruction, of motion. Yet the image is bereft of people.
A hidden world.
Silhouettes of hands point to a doorway, beckoning. The door is shut; there is darkness within. Is anyone there? Is there anyone?
Other worlds. (Unknown worlds.)
Upon the wall below the stairway, messages: “Ron Sheed / Come up and see me some time.” Upon the slatted wall to the left of the railing (to be specific, just to the right of the drain pipe), a message: “Tootsie Love Fina”. Who was Ron Sheed? Who, Tootsie? And, Fina? What brought their names to this place eighty-nine years ago? And afterwards … what of their lives?
With all, it’s really a great photo, typical of Evans’ skill in capturing within the mundane and taken-for-granted, the feeling and sensibility of a place; of an era. In this photo: A vacant street-corner. A variety of lettering styles upon the signs attached to the building. The contrast in the textures of weathering of the building’s walls, doors, windows, and placards.
In all these, the photo has captured more than place.
It has captured time.
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The original image is displayed at the Museum of Modern Art, where it’s described as a gelatin silver print, of dimensions 9 15/16 × 7 15/16″ (25.3 × 20.2 cm). A gift of the photographer – Evans himself, it would seem – to The Ben Schultz Memorial Collection, its Museum object number is 2686.1967. The photograph is one of 365 works by Evans viewable online at MoMA.
The photo appeared at MoMA from December 15, 2006 through July 17, 2007 (IN1988.12), as part of the exhibition “Photography Collection: Rotation 4“, which also included Bill Brandt’s “East End Morning” (1937), Manuel Álvarez Bravo’s “Burial at Metepec” (1932), Berenice Abbott’s “Snuff Shop, 113 Division Street, New York” (1938), Brassaï’s (Gyula Halász) “Prostitute Playing Snooker, Boulevard Rochechouart, Paris” (c. 1932), and, Weegee’s (Arthur Fellig) “Charles Sodokoff and Arthur Webber Use Their Top Hats to Hide Their Faces” (1942).
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The image in this post was scanned from fotofolio postcard WE23.
Image Copyright(s) are to…
fotofolio, Box 661, Canal Station, New York, N.Y., 10013 (ISBN 1-8811270-62-9)
… and …
Walker Evans Archive at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
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Curiously, while fotofolio lists the image title as “Photo Studio, New York, 1934”, MoMA’s catalog entry is “License Photo Studio, New York, 1934”. Regardless, fotofolio – founded by Juliette Galant and Martin Blondell – is currently very much in existence. The company, “…IS INTERNATIONALLY KNOWN AS THE LEADING PUBLISHER OF FINE ART AND PHOTOGRAPHIC POSTCARDS, NOTECARDS, POSTERS AND T-SHIRTS. ~~ IN ADDITION TO COLLABORATING WITH IMPORTANT PHOTOGRAPHERS AND ARTISTS OF THE 20TH AND 21ST CENTURY, FOTOFOLIO PARTNERS WITH MUSEUMS WORLDWIDE TO REPRODUCE WORKS FROM THEIR COLLECTIONS. THESE PRODUCTS, LAUDED BY ARTISTS AND CONSUMERS ALIKE FOR THEIR HIGH QUALITY REPRODUCTIONS OF UNIQUE AND ICONIC IMAGERY ARE SOLD IN MUSEUM STORES, INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORES, BOOKSTORE CHAINS, DESIGN STORES AND SPECIALTY SHOPS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.”
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Ironically, from a technical viewpoint, fotofolio’s image is actually better than the digital version available through MoMA, despite the latter’s vastly higher resolution. This is attributable to fotofolio’s version having been printed at a much lower level of contrast, which reveals subtleties not apparent in MoMA’s print.
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And, Even, More, About, Walker Evans.
… MoMA (biography)
… artnet
… artsy (“How Walker Evans Changed the Way We See America”, by Meredith Mendelsohn)
… Getty Publications (“Walker Evans: Catalogue of the Collection”, by Judith Keller, 1995 – downloadable PDF – gadzooks!)
