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Political Poster, Massachusetts Village
Political Poster, Massachusetts Village
Political Poster, Massachusetts Village

Political Poster, Massachusetts Village

Artist (American, 1903 - 1975)
Date1929 (printed 1971)
Mediumgelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 6 1/4 × 4 7/8 in. (15.9 × 12.4 cm)
Support: 7 × 5 5/8 in. (17.8 × 14.3 cm)
Mat: 17 5/8 × 14 5/8 in. (44.8 × 37.1 cm)
Frame: 19 1/2 × 16 1/2 × 3/4 in. (49.5 × 41.9 × 1.9 cm)
ClassificationsPhotograph
Credit LineGift of the Ives Family in memory of Norman S. and Constance T. Ives, 2016
Object number2016.21.7
DescriptionView of a window with six visible panes. Behind it are some flowers at left, a folded piece of paper or cardboard, and a poster of a Caucasian man wearing a jacket and a striped necktie.
Text Entries
Photographer Walker Evans loved posters and signs and he photographed them throughout his long career. This image is from early in his life as a photographer when he was searching for his voice as an artist. Around the time this picture was made, Evans was photographing in New York City and had made a few pictures of shop windows. Here he frames a faded political poster in the window of a shop in Massachusetts, making a humorous portrait as well as creating a mood of times gone by.
For another image by Walker Evans taken in Massachusetts, see “Bed and Stove, Truro, Mass.” (2016.21.3) from the same portfolio and donor.


After giving a lecture at Yale University in 1964, Evans began teaching there the following year as a professor of graphic design. He found a dynamic group of colleagues including Herbert Matter and Norman Seaton Ives. Ives worked with Evans to create a portfolio of his photographs issued in 1971, of which this photograph was a part (see object file for detailed publishing information and list of photographs included, all shot in the 1930s.
On View
Not on view
Untitled (Woman's hand with rings)
Walker Evans
October 23, 1974
Untitled (Green building)
Walker Evans
May 30, 1974
Untitled  (Lamp and curtain)
Walker Evans
1972-1974
Untitled  (Tombstone and flag)
Walker Evans
Sept. 27, 1974
Untitled  (Barber pole, long)
Walker Evans
January 12, 1973
Boarding House Porch, Birmingham, Alabama
Walker Evans
1936 (printed 1971)
Boarding House Porch, Birmingham, Alabama
Walker Evans
1936 (printed 1971)
Westmoreland Homesteads
Walker Evans
Negative July 1935, print 1935-36
Untitled  (N sign)
Walker Evans
1972-1974