Subway Portrait

1938-1941

Walker Evans

Associated Names
Walker Evans

Artist, American, 1903 - 1975

This is a photograph of the inside of a train carriage. The photograph shows the interior of an old train, with passengers seated on one side wearing hats, and an accordion player on the opposite side. The accordion player is performing. Overhead lighting highlights the curved handles hanging from the ceiling. The composition conveys a sense of everyday life and the convergence of various individuals in a shared space.
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Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Mr. and Mrs. Harry Lunn, Jr., New York, NY; gift to NGA, 1989.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1991

  • Walker Evans: Subway Portraits and Other Recent Acquisitions, National Gallery of Art, Washington; Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, 1991-1992.

1994

  • George Grosz: Berlin - New York, Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin and Kunstammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, 1994-1995.

1996

  • City of Ambition: Artists and New York, 1900-1960, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1996.

Bibliography

1966

  • Many Are Called. Boston, 1966: p. 177.

1991

  • Greenough 1991, pl. 51.

Inscriptions

lower center verso: Evans estate stamp with inventory number VI-176 added in graphite; by later hand, upper right verso in graphite: WE.213

Wikidata ID

Q64171834

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