Date: Fri 27-Mar-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: CAROLL

Quick Words:

Evans

Full Text:

Simple Secrets

w/2 cuts

ATLANTA, GA. -- Nearly 25 years ago, Atlanta resident Dr Benjamin A. Hill

began collecting the photographs of Walker Evans, one of the preeminent

figures in American photography.

From March 24 through June 14, the High Museum of Art will present "Walker

Evans-Simple Secrets: Photographs from the Collection of Marian and Benjamin

A. Hill," an exhibition of some 88 prints, many of which are quite rare and

have never before been published.

The exhibition is organized by the High Museum of Art and will travel to three

other venues, including the International Center of Photography, New York; The

Detroit Institute of Arts; and the Whitney Museum of American Art at Champion

in Stamford, Conn. The exhibition is organized by Ellen Fleurov, curator of

photography at the High.

Hill first met Walker Evans at Yale in 1972, and the following year the artist

spent an extended period at the Hill family residence in Atlanta. Their

friendship led Hill to actively develop what is now widely regarded as one of

the finest private collections of Evans material in the United States.

"Thirteen of the photographs presented here have never before been published,"

noted Fleurov. "Even for those who already know Evans' work, there will be

some amazing surprises."

Beginning with Evans' early New York abstractions, street scenes, and

portraits, the exhibition provides an overview of his entire career.

Highlights include examples of the artist's work with New England and New York

Victorian architecture; photographs from his travels to Tahiti and Cuba; a

series of photographs of African art specially commissioned in 1935 by The

Museum of Modern Art, New York; and examples of his Southern work made during

his employment with the Resettlement Administration and Farm Security

Administration from 1935 to 1937.

Exceptional prints from the landmark exhibition and publication American

Photographs (1938) as well as work from Evans' best-known book, Let Us Now

Praise Famous Men (1941), are included in the show.

Evans' work during the war years is represented by photographs of the New York

City subways, a commissioned series on the west coast of Florida, and

editorial assignments on Bridgeport, Chicago, Detroit, and the "Beauties of

the Common Tool" for Fortune magazine. Also featured are lesser-known images

from the end of Evans' life, such as "Stove, Heliker House, Cranberry Island,

Maine" (1969) and "Graffiti, `Here'" (1974), an example of his experimentation

with the then-new Polaroid SX-70 camera.

The Atlanta exhibition will also include several examples from Hill's

collection of important first-edition books by or about Walker Evans as well

as periodicals, which originally featured his work.

The exhibition will be accompanied by 158-page illustrated catalogue,

co-published with Harry N. Abrams and designed by John T. Hill. The catalogue

includes 61 full-plate illustrations, an essay by Fleurov, and an annotated

checklist.

The museum is at 1280 Peachtree Street (at Peachtree and 16th Streets).

Admission is $6. Hours are 10 am to 5 pm Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 5

pm Sunday. For information, 404/733-HIGH.