[Louise Merriman, New Haven, Connecticut]

Walker Evans

1973–74 · Instant internal dye diffusion transfer print (Polaroid SX-70) · Photographs

Evans was in poor health when he began to work with the Polaroid SX‑70 in 1973; he was attracted to the camera's small, elegant design and the instant color prints it generated that required no tedious lab or darkroom work. Like the developing Polaroid print itself, with its miraculous and immediate image, Evans came to life and worked feverishly with the new camera. At the age of seventy, he returned to many of his lifelong themes, including vernacular architecture, domestic interiors, and roadside signage. He also expanded his repertoire with a large series of portraits of woman, including neighbors, friends, and his young students at Oberlin College in Ohio where Evans was a guest lecturer in January-March 1974.

Artist

Walker Evans

Date

1973–74

Medium

Instant internal dye diffusion transfer print (Polaroid SX-70)

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Gift of C. R. Lindley, M.D., 2020