Walker Evans and the Picture Postcard Photography

Walker Evans and the Picture Postcard ...
February 3, 2009–May 25, 2009
The Howard Gilman Gallery at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Past Saturday I went to the Met Museum with my husband to check out a couple of photography exhibitions and Walker Evans was one of it.

I always wondered about Walker Evans’s frontal and formal style of photography. After seeing the exhibition at the Met, I was persuaded by the curator’s arguement. Walker Evans collected many things through his life including picture postcard. He was influenced by the aesthetic of picture postcard. The exhibition displays one of postcards with Evans’s picture on top of each other. It is amazing how much Evans’s photo looks like the postcard in terms of vantage point and composition. The curator’s assumption is that Evans took the photo without seeing the picture postcard.

Unknown artist
Front Street, Looking North, Morgan City, LA, 1929

Walker Evans (American, 1903–1975)
[Street Scene, Morgan City, Louisiana], 1935
Besides displaying hundreds of postcards, they exhibition displays a dozen of Evans’s photographs that were printed on postcard format photographic paper in 1936.

Walker Evans (American, 1903–1975)
View of Ossining, New York, 1930–31
On the wall text by collections of his objects, it says that Evans collected a lot of things (street signs, tin can tab, etc) and he rarely throw away anything. The Metropolitan Museum’s Walker Evans archive has 9000 picture postcards collected by Walker Evans. He even had organization system for catagorization. He also published his postcard collection and wrote about it twice.
The exhibition at the Met gives more understanding about Walker Evans and it was worth going.

Old Photographs of Japan Photography

1890s • Temizu

Old Photos of Japan shows photos of Japan between the 1860s and 1930s. In 1854, Japan opened its doors to the outside world for the first time in more than 200 years. It set in motion a truly astounding transformation. As fate would have it, photography had just been invented. As the old country vanished and a new one was born, daring photographers took photos. Discover what life was like with their rare and precious photographs of old Japan.

1900s • Ainu Chief An Ainu chief in traditional clothing.

1880s • Ainu Man A beautiful hand-tinted portrait dating back to the late 19th century of an Ainu man in traditional clothing. He is wearing a sword in a shoulder belt and a ceremonial crown (サパウンペ, Sapaunpe) used during the iomante ritual and other religious rituals.

These Photographs were taken in the final days of the samurai class, before its abolition in 1867.It should be noted that some of these photographs date to the Meiji period. Many of these pictures were taken in the 1880's -therefore they show former samurai, or sometimes just ordinary people posing as samurai.

NOTE: The last few pictures seen in this video show Tokugawa Yoshinobu, Japan's last Shogun and the famous reformer, Sakamoto Ryoma, who played a pivotal role in the modernisation of the country.We also see the new Police force(The seated uniformed man with the katana) as well as the last picture which displays the European military reformers and the westernized Japanese officers.Although these aren't samurai, they were added to show the revolutionary changes that were taking place in Japanese society at this time.

Several of these Photographs were taken by the renowned photographer Felice Beato and his pupil, Raimund von Stillfried.

Old Photographs of Japan Photography

1890s • Temizu

Old Photos of Japan shows photos of Japan between the 1860s and 1930s. In 1854, Japan opened its doors to the outside world for the first time in more than 200 years. It set in motion a truly astounding transformation. As fate would have it, photography had just been invented. As the old country vanished and a new one was born, daring photographers took photos. Discover what life was like with their rare and precious photographs of old Japan.

1900s • Ainu Chief An Ainu chief in traditional clothing.

1880s • Ainu Man A beautiful hand-tinted portrait dating back to the late 19th century of an Ainu man in traditional clothing. He is wearing a sword in a shoulder belt and a ceremonial crown (サパウンペ, Sapaunpe) used during the iomante ritual and other religious rituals.

These Photographs were taken in the final days of the samurai class, before its abolition in 1867.It should be noted that some of these photographs date to the Meiji period. Many of these pictures were taken in the 1880's -therefore they show former samurai, or sometimes just ordinary people posing as samurai.

NOTE: The last few pictures seen in this video show Tokugawa Yoshinobu, Japan's last Shogun and the famous reformer, Sakamoto Ryoma, who played a pivotal role in the modernisation of the country.We also see the new Police force(The seated uniformed man with the katana) as well as the last picture which displays the European military reformers and the westernized Japanese officers.Although these aren't samurai, they were added to show the revolutionary changes that were taking place in Japanese society at this time.

Several of these Photographs were taken by the renowned photographer Felice Beato and his pupil, Raimund von Stillfried.

Betsie van der Meer Farm Photography

Betsie van der Meer Farm HC 23 x 23 cm. KesselsKramer 2005

Betsie grew up on a farm in the south west of the Netherlands. She spent most of her childhood on the farm, leaving when she was about seventeen. She went back to photograph her memories of growing up there. Whilst photographing she learned that the family had to demolish the house and this gave her a sense of urgency: she wanted to have a record of the space before the opportunity was lost.

Many farms have become unprofitable within the changing economies of Europe. What has happened to the house symbolises many of the wider processes that are happening to farming families in the area.

The Sproxton Award helped Betsie to produce a self-published book called Farm. It was printed in Belgium and is distributed by Schaden Germany. The Sproxton Award went directly towards the expenses of printing the book. Farm was also produced as an exhibition at the Naarden Photofestival, the Netherlands.

Betsie van der Meer works commercially for Getty Images and Corbis as well as for advertising. The latest campaigns are for T-mobile, Germany and for Habitat Great Britain. An example of her latest work can be seen in the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize 08 in the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Betsie van der Meer Farm Photography

Betsie van der Meer Farm HC 23 x 23 cm. KesselsKramer 2005

Betsie grew up on a farm in the south west of the Netherlands. She spent most of her childhood on the farm, leaving when she was about seventeen. She went back to photograph her memories of growing up there. Whilst photographing she learned that the family had to demolish the house and this gave her a sense of urgency: she wanted to have a record of the space before the opportunity was lost.

Many farms have become unprofitable within the changing economies of Europe. What has happened to the house symbolises many of the wider processes that are happening to farming families in the area.

The Sproxton Award helped Betsie to produce a self-published book called Farm. It was printed in Belgium and is distributed by Schaden Germany. The Sproxton Award went directly towards the expenses of printing the book. Farm was also produced as an exhibition at the Naarden Photofestival, the Netherlands.

Betsie van der Meer works commercially for Getty Images and Corbis as well as for advertising. The latest campaigns are for T-mobile, Germany and for Habitat Great Britain. An example of her latest work can be seen in the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize 08 in the National Portrait Gallery in London.

'Déjà vu': Kees Scherer Photography

Boys with a kite on a dyke near Arnemuiden - 1950

Waterskier - 1953

Women on the beach - 1949

Scheveningen beach - 1949

Women in deckchair - 1949

Going home 1949

See for more Kees Scherer ... & see also Vintage Photo Gallery ...

The picture of an armed officer of the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department by Anthony Suau as World Press Photo of the Year 2008

Click here Bekijk winnaars van de World Press Photo 2008

AMSTERDAM.- The international jury of the 52nd annual World Press Photo Contest have selected a black-and-white image by American photographer Anthony Suau as World Press Photo of the Year 2008.

The picture shows an armed officer of the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department moving through a home in Cleveland, Ohio, following eviction as a result of mortgage foreclosure. Officers have to ensure that the house is clear of weapons, and that the residents have moved out. The winning photograph, taken in March 2008, is part of a story commissioned by Time magazine. The story as a whole won Second Prize in the Daily Life category of the contest.

Jury chair MaryAnne Golon said: "The strength of the picture is in its opposites. It's a double entendre. It looks like a classic conflict photograph, but it is simply the eviction of people from a house following foreclosure. Now war in its classic sense is coming into people's houses because they can't pay their mortgages.

Fellow juror Akinbode Akinbiyi commented: "It is a very ambiguous image. You have to go into it to find out what it is. Then all over the world people will be thinking ‘this is what is happening to all of us'."

Juror Ayperi Ecer said: "We have something here which visually is both clear and complex...It's not about issues - 2008 is the year of the end of a dominant economic system. We need a new language, to learn how to illustrate our lives."
Poland, Auschwitz, 3 may 2008
World Press Photo 2008 - Arts and Entertainment: 1st prize stories The jury gave prizes in 10 theme categories to 63 photographers of 27 nationalities from: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, France, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands (Roger Cremers: Auschwitz Tourist Photography), Poland, Russia, El Salvador, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and USA.

A total of 96,268 photographs were submitted to be judged, representing an increase of 19.5% since last year. The number of participants was also a record, a total of 5,508 photographers sent in their work, which is a rise of 9.7% compared to 2008.

The participants represent 124 different nationalities. Entries by photographers from Asia increased by 14% from last year, photographers from China and India leading the numbers, with 490 (2008: 400) and 208 (2008: 165) participants respectively. European photographers are traditionally strongly represented in the contest. This year there were significant increases in the number of photographers from certain countries, such as Italy with 306 (251) and Poland with 104 (81).

Anthony Suau, the author of the World Press Photo of the Year 2008, will receive his award during an awards ceremony in Amsterdam on Sunday 2 May 2009. The award also carries a cash prize of 10,000 euro. In addition, Canon will donate Anthony Suau a Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera.

The awards ceremony is preceded by a three-day program of lectures, discussions and screenings of photography. The exhibition of prizewinners will be shown at the Oude Kerk from 4 May to 28 June and will subsequently visit over 100 locations around the world. Lees verder ...

The picture shows an armed officer of the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department moving through a home in Cleveland, Ohio, following eviction as a result of mortgage foreclosure.