In an article by William Meyers in the Wallstreet Journal is the hidden story of a ten-year old girl who once posed for simple portrait taken by Walker Evans. Evans took the picture in 1936 when he was in Alabama working for a new magazine profession. The picture is only a headshot forcing the emphasis to reflect our eyes on her face. Evan’s simplifies the portrait by only allowing his audience to concentrate on her face and features. Meyers describes Evans way of narrowing in on the small details of the portrait. If one is to look closely they will see the rust stained from the nails on the back of the fence. Perhaps the family could be poor and not able to afford a wealthy life? Her straw hat is also symbolic for it is in the shape of an angel’s halo representing some type of innocence. Her features on her face are what tell her story, an emotionless girl with neither a smile nor a frown. In a book by Agee’s he describes that “part of our seeing her is trying to figure out what she sees, what is going on behind those eyes, greedy to understand the world”. In the end, the once young innocent girl is revealed some forty years later. She was married at fifteen, divorced once, had multiple children, worked as a nurse or a teacher, and tragically committed suicide in 1971. When one reflects back on the portrait they would have never guessed her life would have turned out the way it did. A picture paints a thousand words, but her tragic life was not foreseen in her young ten-year old portrait.
Information found from:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303467004575574162690573540.html?mod=WSJ_ArtsEnt_LifestyleArtEnt_4
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