Aperture 91. Summer 1983. Walker Evans, Nancy Hellebrand, Michael Lesy, et al.

Includes Walker Evans; Beauty; Nancy Hellebrand; Portraits; William Maguire; Night Photography; J. Lueders-Booth; Ted Hartwell; Stephen Scheer; Backyards; Rhondal McKinney; Susan Barron; Michael Spano; review of photo history by Carol Squiers; review of books on Walker Evans and by Michael Lesy by Danny Lyon. Small raised spots on cover, may have been stuck to another copy during printing. Otherwise fine. See photo.  Summary:

The Summer 1983 issue of Aperture (No. 91) is a multifaceted volume that explores the diverse applications of the documentary tradition, ranging from the classic austerity of Walker Evans to contemporary investigations of private spaces and night-time urbanity.

The Legacy of Walker Evans

The issue places a heavy emphasis on Walker Evans, assessing his enduring influence on American photography.

• Critical Reviews: Documentarian Danny Lyon contributes a significant review of recent books on Evans and the work of Michael Lesy, offering a peer’s perspective on Evans's "plain-style" aesthetic and its historical weight.

• The Evans Aesthetic: The issue serves as a dialogue between Evans’s mid-century formal rigor and the "new" documentary styles emerging in the 1980s.

Featured Portfolios: Space and Subjectivity

The issue is curated into thematic clusters that examine how photographers inhabit and document specific environments:

• Backyards and Rural Landscapes: Rhondal McKinney and Stephen Scheer explore the "near landscape." McKinney focuses on the quiet, agricultural expanses of the Midwest, while Scheer looks at the intimate, often chaotic social spaces of American backyards.

• Portraits and Presence: Nancy Hellebrand presents her distinctive approach to portraiture, focusing on the nuances of the body and the psychological space between subject and lens.

• Night Photography: William Maguire contributes to the "Night" theme, utilizing the unique lighting and stillness of the evening to transform mundane locales into cinematic or mysterious tableaus.

• The Human Condition: J. Lueders-Booth provides a social documentary perspective, often focusing on marginalized communities or specific socio-economic environments with a direct, empathetic eye.

Contemporary Vision and Experimentation

• Susan Barron & Michael Spano: The issue showcases the formal diversity of the era, from Barron’s meticulous, small-scale prints to Spano’s innovative use of wide-angle street photography and sequence.

• Ted Hartwell: Known as a key curator and photographer, Hartwell's presence reinforces the issue's focus on the intersection of photographic history and modern practice.

Critical Discourse

• "Beauty" in Photography: A recurring conceptual thread throughout the issue is the re-evaluation of "beauty" in a medium that was increasingly leaning toward the grit of social realism and the banality of the "New Topographics."

• History and Historiography: Carol Squiers provides a sharp review of the state of photo-history, critiquing how the medium was being institutionalized and narrated in museums and academia during the early 1980s.

Significance

Aperture 91 acts as a bridge between generations. By pairing a retrospective look at Walker Evans with the immediate, visceral work of photographers like Hellebrand and Spano, the issue examines how the "straight" photographic tradition evolved to accommodate the more personal, subjective, and culturally critical perspectives of the late 20th century.