Subway Portrait

January 1941

Walker Evans

Associated Names
Walker Evans

Artist, American, 1903 - 1975

The image shows the upper body of a woman seated. She has light-colored, curly hair that is partially covered by a dark hat. She wears a dark coat and both of her hands rest over a newspaper titled "KENNEDY FIGHTS AID BRITAIN BILL." She is positioned with her upper torso facing slightly left while her head is turned to the right, looking off-frame. The woman's facial expression is neutral, with her lips closed. The setting suggests she is in a confined space, with a window and part of another person's shoulder visible beside her. The background appears to be indoors, with a soft focus that does not provide specific details of the surroundings.
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Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Dr. and Mrs. Kent Minichiello, Washington, D.C.; gift to NGA, 1990.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1966

  • Walker Evans' Subway, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1966.

1991

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

1996

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

2000

  • Walker Evans, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, 2000 - 2001, unnumbered catalogue.

2017

  • "Walker Evans", Musée national d'art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, 2017 - 2018, unnumbered catalogue.

Bibliography

1956

  • i.e. The Cambridge Review 5 (March 1956): n.p.

1966

  • Evans, Walker. Many Are Called. Boston, 1966: p. 17.

1982

  • Thompson, Jerry L. Walker Evans at Work. New York, 1982: p. 157 (center right).

1991

  • Greenough 1991, pl. 27.

Inscriptions

center verso stamped: WALKER EVANS / 1681 YORK AVENUE / NEW YORK, N.Y. 10028; by later hand, upper right verso in graphite: 66.1099; lower center verso in graphite: 16; lower right verso in graphit e: c.c.[or e?]

Wikidata ID

Q64171055

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