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Work 10,833 of 28,203
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Walker Evans (American, 1903–1975)
Penny Picture Display, Savannah
[Photographer's Studio Window with Portraits]
1936
Gelatin silver print
24.7 x 19.3 cm (9 3/4 x 7 5/8 in.)
Ford Motor Company Collection, Gift of Ford Motor Company and John C. Waddell, 1987
1987.1100.482
© Walker Evans Archive, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Photograph
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.