Auto Dump, Vicinity Easton, Pennsylvania, November 1935

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Auto Dump, Vicinity Easton, Pennsylvania, November 1935

Artist Walker Evans (American, 1903-1975)

Date1935 (negative), about 1965 (print)

DimensionsOverall: 9 1/16 x 9 7/8 in. (23 x 25.1 cm)

MediumSilver print

ClassificationPhotographs

Credit LineGift of an anonymous donor

Object number

1977.53

Not on View

Label TextAuto Dump is an excellent example of Walker Evans’ work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) —a New Deal institution begun during the Depression initially to document and combat rural poverty. The photograph was made while touring Pennsylvania industrial towns during November 1935. Evans’ directness of technique and vision in this photograph, as well as others he made for the F.S.A during 1935–37, was well suited to the documentary aims of this government project. Evans views the auto dump head on; his dispassionate study elevates and transforms the mundane scene to the level of permanent symbol, perhaps a poetic comment on the waste of the industrial age in America.Exhibition HistoryTMA, Jan 22 - June 8, 1999. Toledo Museum of Art, Looks Good on Paper: Masterworks and Favorites, Oct. 10, 2014-Jan. 11, 2015.