Walker Evans was a pioneer of the documentary tradition in photography. Without his influence I wonder if modern photojournalism would exist. So when I found this paperback at Goodwill, I decided to acquire it. I am releasing it because the small format for Evans' work frustrates me and this book is good enough to lead another reader to an interest in this important artist. Most of his photos were shot on a large format 8 by 10 inch view camera. The photos presented here are small reproductions and even the text of this book is hard to read. Still, for those unaware of Walker Evans, this concise, reduced-format edition with 300 duotone photographs could be worthwhile. Evans was certainly an essential artist of the 20th Century. HUNGRY EYE covers Evans' life and work beginning with his decision to leave formal education to become an artist and his early work depicting urban street-life in New York and Cuba. The important assignments he completed for the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s led to his breakthrough exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1938 and are also covered here. The son of a prosperous Midwestern family, Evans was very well-educated, well read and well traveled. His early literary influences were T. S. Eliot, D. H. Lawrence, James Joyce, e. e. cummings, Charles Baudelaire and Gustave Flaubert. And he was in the circle of many important writers of his day, notably Hart Crane, James Agee and Ernest Hemingway. His work with Agee, LET US NOW PRAISE FAMOUS MEN, is the most well known to me. There Evans' elegant depictions of the stark poverty of Alabama tenant farmers of the Depression era put a compelling face to the hardships of that time in history. I like it that the front cover of this book features a portrait of Evans as a young Man and that the back shows him as an elder. Both men have "hungry" eyes. This book is hard to rate because I don't like the format. Probably, I'd give the original edition a 10 for the photos it contains. As this paperback edition doesn't do the photos justice, I'm rating it average.

I left this book at the Piano for Peace (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4LenFbZnhw) in the entrance to Sam Flax (https://www.samflaxatlanta.com), a place that nourishes the hungry eyes of Atlanta artists. BookCrossing is a random community of book lovers. If you'd like to join the BookCrossing story of this book, please make a journal entry at our site with the BCID (bookcrossing ID) on the bookplate. BookCrossing is free to join and confidential. Tell us anything you'd like to share about this book.

This book sat on the piano at the entry to Sam Flax for months. The last time I was there, before the COVID-19 Pandemic, it had traveled on. I hope it has pleased a next reader. It's travelling.