Walker Evans (American, 1903-1975) and James Agee (American, 1909-1955). Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, 1941. First editi...

Description

Walker Evans (American, 1903-1975) and James Agee (American, 1909-1955)
Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, 1941
First edition volume with text by James Agee and illustrations by Walker Evans
8 x 5-1/2 inches (20.3 x 14.0 cm)
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

PROVENANCE:
Heritage Auctions, Signature Rare Books auction, March 7, 2018, lot 45268;
Private collection, acquired from the above.

Let Us Now Praise Famous Men grew out of a Fortune magazine assignment that Agee and Evans accepted in 1936 to document the conditions among sharecropper families in the American South during the Great Depression. It was the time of U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt's "New Deal" programs designed to help the poorest segments of the society. Agee and Evans spent eight weeks that summer researching their assignment, mainly among three white sharecropping families living in virtual destitution. They returned with Evans's portfolio of stark images and Agee's detailed notes. His piece was rejected by the editors at Fortune; but the following year the magazine gave Agee permission to publish a book. The manuscript was accepted for publication by Houghton Mifflin in 1939 and appeared two years later.


More information about Walker Evans. See also: Evans, Walker Artist.

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