Perfect Documents: Walker Evans and African Art, 1935

A Metropolitan Museum of Art Publication Walker Evans (1903-1975) is best remembered for his indelible images of the Depression-era American South. But before Evans began his celebrated work for the Resettlement Administration, he started another series of remarkable photographs: more than 400 images that not only document a groundbreaking 1935 exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art called "African Negro Art," but that also reveal Evans' signature style.

This book collects the best of those photographs for the first time. Many of the images picture masterpieces-from Cameroon, Gabon, and Nigeria, among other countries, including masks and figures used for ritual or royal purposes and decorative arts, some of which subsequently became part of the Metropolitan's permanent collection of African art-and all reflect Evans' consummate artistry. With notes drawn from the Walker Evans Archive and other archival sources, this is an extraordinary book for anyone interested in Walker Evans or African art.

80 photographs, 8 1/2 x 11"

VIRGINIA-LEE WEBB is archivist of the photograph collection in the Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

EXHIBITION SCHEDULE The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New YorkFeb. 1-Sept. 3, 2000