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COUPLE AT CONEY ISLAND, NEW YORK

measurements note
10 1/8 by 8 in. (25.7 by 20.3 cm.)

signed by the photographer and with various numerical notations in unidentified hands in pencil, including 'I 14' on a paper label, on the reverse, 1928

PROVENANCE

Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco

Acquired by the Gilman Paper Company from the above, 1983

LITERATURE

Other prints of this image:

Keller 102

Walker Evans: American Photographs (The Museum of Modern Art, 1988), Part One, pl. 41

John T. Hill, Walker Evans at Work (New York, 1982), p. 25

Walker Evans: First and Last (New York, 1978), p. 11

Gilles Mora and John T. Hill, Walker Evans: The Hungry Eye (New York, 1993), pp. 48 and 182

Maria Morris Hambourg, Jeff L. Rosenheim, Douglas Eklund, and Mia Fineman, Walker Evans (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000, in conjunction with the exhibition), pl. 17

Peter Galassi, Walker Evans & Company (The Museum of Modern Art, 2000, in conjunction with the exhibition), pl. 124

NOTE

This photograph was made shortly after Evans's return to New York after a year as an expatriate in Paris. It is the earliest photograph chosen by Evans for inclusion in his seminal 1938 book, American Photographs. Evans's selection of images for American Photographs, comprising work from the late 1920s and 1930s, served as a statement of his achievement in photography thus far.

Newly settled in New York in 1928, Evans was part of a circle of artists and writers that included Hart Crane and Paul Grotz, among others. While Evans's creative efforts up to that point had been focused on writing, he became increasingly interested in photography, ultimately making it his sole pursuit. Evans and Crane, neighbors in Brooklyn, took jobs together as night clerks in an investment firm, which allowed Evans to roam the city and photograph during the day.

The photograph offered here was made at Coney Island in Brooklyn. The first subway connecting Coney Island to Manhattan was completed in 1920, giving people easy access to the seaside 'playground of the world.' During the first half of the 20^th century, Coney Island was a premiere destination for amusement and leisure. Evans traveled to Coney Island on more than one occasion to observe and photograph people and the amusement park rides (cf. Walker Evans at Work, pps. 24-25 and 34-37). Evans photographed this couple looking out at the central tower of Luna Park, one of Coney Island's chief amusement parks.