Olivier Richon on Walker Evans's Kitchen Corner at Central Saint Martins
On February 18, 2019, Olivier Richon, an artist and Photography Professor at the Royal College of Art, presented a lecture at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London. This talk, centered on his book Walker Evans: Kitchen Corner, took place in the LVMH Lecture Theatre. Richon focused on Evans's 1936 image of a sharecropper's residence in Alabama, which remained unseen until its inclusion in the 1960 edition of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, co-authored by Evans and James Agee. His discussion highlighted how Evans's detached photographic approach emphasized neglected objects and the architecture of the marginalized, while the 1960 reissue altered American views on the Great Depression's effects on the working class. This event was part of the Central Saint Martins Fine Art Programme Guest Lecture Series, with the One Work series published by The MIT Press.
Key facts
- Olivier Richon is an artist and Professor of Photography at the Royal College of Art.
- The talk was based on Richon's One Work book 'Walker Evans: Kitchen Corner'.
- The photograph 'Kitchen Corner' was taken in 1936.
- The photograph shows a clean-swept corner in the house of a white Alabama sharecropper family.
- The photograph was not published until 1960.
- It appeared in a new edition of 'Let Us Now Praise Famous Men' by Walker Evans and James Agee.
- The 1960 reissue impacted American perceptions of the Great Depression.
- The event took place on 18 February 2019 at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London.
Entities
Artists
- Olivier Richon
- Walker Evans
- James Agee
Institutions
- Royal College of Art
- Central Saint Martins
- University of the Arts London
- The MIT Press
Locations
- Alabama
- London
- United Kingdom
Sources
- Afterall —