The Missing Criticism: Papageorge on Evans and Frank

[johnastovall]

A long out of print essay on the influence of Walker Evans on Robert Frank's' "The Americans" is now on the net.

"In 1981, Tod Papageorge curated an exhibit at the Yale University Art Gallery that explored the influence of Walker Evans' American Photographs on Robert Frank's The Americans. The catalog for the show is out-of-print, taking with it Papageorge's essay "Walker Evans and Robert Frank: An Essay on Influence.""

A good starting place for learning about both Evans and Frank if you aren't familiar with them.

Papageorge's essay "Walker Evans and Robert Frank: An Essay on Influence."

A sample from it.

"Although, since The Americans was published, Frank has consistently stated that Walker Evans . . . was the photographer who most influenced his work, the few writers who have discussed the two men in relation to one another generally have done so by setting them in a Manichaean opposition. In this equation, Evans, on the side of the angels, is seen as a moralist whose work unequivocally accepts and elevates the raw material of vernacular American culture, while Frank, in the devil’s party, is seen as the photographic equivalent of Rimbaud – an anarchic poet who sings one brutal song, and then, in despair and exaltation, or whatever joy is found in conjunction with the creation of something incomparable, denies his gift by rejecting it. That the sorrowing world Frank’s book describes has been set against Evans’ lightstruck community, where, in at least a casual reading, everything possesses the clear gorgeousness of achieved fact, is unsurprising. But the suggestion that the two photographers are related only because they share the same general subject ignores the particular debt that The Americans owes to American Photographs, and, with that, disregards the most subtle triumphs of Frank’s book, its transformation of Evans’ vision."

[jeffkohn]

I haven't actually read it yet, but just taking a quick glance it's dsappointing to see that the essay references a bunch of photos that aren't actually included in the PDF. It would probably be a more interesting read if you could actually see the pictures being discussed.

[johnastovall]

Anyone interested in seeing the images with the essay can find copies of the original essay with pictures at the following Texas locations.

US,TX AMON CARTER MUS LIBR AS0
US,TX DALLAS MUS OF ART, MAYER LIBR MUA
US,TX LAMAR UNIV TXR
US,TX SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIV, CENT LIBR ISM
US,TX TEXAS A&M UNIV LIBR, COMMERCE IEA
US,TX TEXAS A&M UNIV, CORPUS CHRISTI TXF
US,TX TEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIV ICU
US,TX TEXAS WOMAN'S UNIV LIBR IWU
US,TX UNIV OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN IXA
US,TX UNIV OF TEXAS AT SAN ANTONIO TXJ
US,TX UNIV OF TEXAS, AUSTIN, HARRY RANSOM HRH