Lot 39
Walker Evans(1903-1975)Self Portrait, 5 rue de la Santé, Paris
28 April – 12 May 2020, 14:00 EDT
Online, New YorkUS$15,000 - US$25,000
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Walker Evans (1903-1975)
Self Portrait, 5 rue de la Santé, Paris, 1926
Gelatin silver print, dated and notation '2' in pencil on the verso.
4 1/8 x 3in (10.3 x 7.6cm)
sheet 4 3/4 x 3 1/2in (12.1 x 8.9cm)
Gelatin silver print, dated and notation '2' in pencil on the verso.
4 1/8 x 3in (10.3 x 7.6cm)
sheet 4 3/4 x 3 1/2in (12.1 x 8.9cm)
Footnotes
Provenance
Acquired directly from the artist
Literature
Thompson, Walker Evans at Work, Thames & Hudson, 1984, p. 18; Mellow, Walker Evans, Basic Books, 1999, p. 45; Hill and Liesbrock ed., Walker Evans: Depth of Field, Prestel, 2016, p. 36, for a more frontal variant
Along with many dreamers, Walker Evans went to Paris in 1926 aiming to write. Like Durer, Rembrandt, Picasso, Van Gogh, and Cindy Sherman, Evans recorded his likeness as only he could. In 1927 he admired what he saw in the large mirror in his Paris pension. That same year he made a dazzling series of shadow selfies. These self portraits were some of Evans's first photographs.
Back in New York, he documented himself with small and large cameras. Using fake moustache and comic hats, he posed for himself in Brooklyn, followed by a session taken in Darien, Connecticut, featuring cerebral poses and dramatic lighting.
By 1927 automated photo booths were common in New York. Evans saw these as instant pleasure in recording what he knew best and loved most.
