ARTFEED — Contemporary Art Intelligence

Olivier Richon Examines Walker Evans's Kitchen Corner

publication · 2026-04-22

Olivier Richon's new book in the One Work series offers a detailed analysis of Walker Evans's 1936 photograph Kitchen Corner, Tenant Farmhouse, Hale County, Alabama. The image, depicting a clean-swept corner in a white sharecropper's home, was not published until 1960 in a reissue of Evans and James Agee's Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. Richon argues that Evans uses a detached photographic form to highlight overlooked objects and the architecture of the dispossessed. The book reveals unexpected visual and literary associations beneath the surface of the iconic image.

Key facts

  • Walker Evans's photograph Kitchen Corner, Tenant Farmhouse, Hale County, Alabama was taken in 1936.
  • The photograph was not published until 1960.
  • It appeared in a new edition of Evans and James Agee's Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.
  • The 1960 reissue impacted perceptions of the Great Depression and the American South.
  • Olivier Richon authored the book in the One Work series.
  • Richon argues Evans employs a photographic form that privileges detachment.
  • The book is part of the One Work series focusing on artworks that shaped art history.
  • The publication is available via MIT Press and Google Books.

Entities

Artists

  • Walker Evans
  • James Agee
  • Olivier Richon

Institutions

  • Afterall
  • MIT Press
  • Google Books

Locations

  • Hale County, Alabama
  • United States

Sources