Lot #115: WALKER EVANS - Coal Dock Worker, Havana, Cuba - Gelatin silver print

                 

Artist: Walker Evans (American, 1903 - 1975).
Title: "Coal Dock Worker, Havana, Cuba [two shovels]".
Medium: Gelatin silver print.
Date: Composed 1932. Printed 1971.
Dimensions: Overall size: 18 x 14 3/4 in. (457 x 375 mm). Image size: 7 5/8 x 6 in. (194 x 152 mm).
Lot Note(s): Signed in pencil on the mount, lower right; dated and numbered on the mount, lower left. Planned edition of 100, of which 88 were printed. Mounted into debossed areas on Strathmore double weight rag board. Flush mounted as issued. Fine, quality contact printing from the original negatives by Ives-Sillman/Thomas A. Brown, under the supervision of Walker Evans. Very good condition; would be fine save a small imperfection in the hat of the subject, visible in the raking light. Comment(s): This iconic Evans photograph is from the beautifully conceived and executed portfolio “Walker Evans: 14 Photographs,” published by Ives-Sillman, New Haven, CT, in 1971. Evans selected this image for the portfolio as representative of the work he did in Cuba, where he made a series of single and group portraits of coal dock workers. Arguably the most important and compelling image of the series, this man, holding not one but two shovels, was the oldest of the workers and the central figure in all of the group portraits. The photograph was included by Evans in his 1938 exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. A photocopy of the very rare prospectus and price list for the portfolio accompanies the lot. Distributed in part by Harry H. Lunn/Graphics International Ltd., Washington, D.C. Image copyright © The Walker Evans Archive, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. [29783-3-3000]