Streetfront and Signs, Beaufort, South Carolina

During the Great Depression, Walker Evans recorded the plight of the rural poor while employed by the U.S. Farm Security Administration between 1935 and 1937. He traveled from Pennsylvania and West Virginia to Georgia and Mississippi, photographing people and places from coal miners and sharecroppers to dilapidated houses, churches, and storefronts. Here the photographer directs his gaze at the American vernacular tradition of signs and built environments in a deadpan and emotionally detached style.