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Penny Picture Display, Savannah

Walker Evans American
1936
Not on view
This picture is a composite portrait of a slice of society. It represents the window display of an anonymous portrait photographer in the South during the Depression. He was evidently not much of an artist but was good at pinching pennies, eager for business, and proud of his trade. On each of his large negatives he managed to make fifteen individual portraits. He thought most exposures good enough to use in this advertising display but covered his occasional failures with more successful images cut from other contact sheets.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Penny Picture Display, Savannah
  • Artist: Walker Evans (American, St. Louis, Missouri 1903–1975 New Haven, Connecticut)
  • Date: 1936
  • Medium: Gelatin silver print
  • Dimensions: 24.7 x 19.3 cm (9 3/4 x 7 5/8 in.)
  • Classification: Photographs
  • Credit Line: Ford Motor Company Collection, Gift of Ford Motor Company and John C. Waddell, 1987
  • Object Number: 1987.1100.482
  • Curatorial Department: Photographs

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