Barber Shop, New Orleans 1936

This gelatin silver print, Barber Shop, New Orleans, was made by Walker Evans sometime in the mid-twentieth century. I can see Evans, with his large format camera, framing up the view of this storefront. The stripes on the barber shop are so vibrant, they almost vibrate! I’m really feeling the push and pull between the flat surface of the image and the illusion of depth. Evans is playing with geometry, making use of the visual patterns of the barber’s pole, the signage, the wrought iron balcony in the background. It's a real dance of angles. Evans was so fascinated with the everyday, vernacular architecture of America. There's this way that the photograph is capturing a moment in time, but also hinting at something larger about American culture, class, and commerce. It reminds me of other photographers, like Bernd and Hilla Becher, who were methodically cataloging industrial structures in Europe, and like them, Evans understood that ordinary architecture tells an important story about culture.