Of Time and Place: Walker Evans and William Christenberry, by Thomas W. Southall.

Friends of Photography, 1990, issued as Untitled 51. Wraps, like new. 88 pages. This book is a collaboration between The Friends of Photography, San Francisco, and The Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, in association with The University of New Mexico Press. With text by Thomas W. Southall, stories by William Christenberry, and excerpts from the writing of James Agee, it presents black and white photos taken by Walker Evans in the Depression South and color photos taken recently by painter and photographer William Christenberry of many of the places Evans visited, especially in Hale County, Alabama, places that Christenberry knows intimately, having been born and raised there or nearby.  As well known, Evans made his photographs in 1936 while on leave from the Resettlement Administration (RA) to work on what became the book, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, with text by James Agee.  The RA was under the direction of Roy Stryker, who gave him permission to do the project with the understanding that the negatives would become part of the federal agency’s file.  The following year, the Resettlement Administration was reorganized as the Farm Security Administration and its very large photo collection is now at the Library of Congress.  While Evans’ photographs were in black and white, Christenberry shot in color and his photographs include some of the same places from the same point of view, comprising a re-photography project.  Thomas Southall, who conceived the project and wrote the informative introductory essay, worked closely with Christenberry in putting together the exhibit and book.