sharon
(sharon)
#1
Takenliterally,thisisanargumentformontageofthekindassociated
withDadaorJohnHeartfield,withanti-realiststaging,orwiththeuse
oftexttorefunctionorquestiontheimage.Evenso,setsandsequences
canalsobeusedtomodifyandmodulateimagesinareflexivemanner
closetoBrecht’sdemandforthe‘built-up’.Accumulation,repetition,
serialityandsequencesarecertainlylessassertivethanovertjuxtaposi-
tion.Thedifferenceisthatinthesemodesthephotographscanappearas
singleshotsandaselementsofalargerwhole.Thisexpandeddefinition
helpsmakesenseofwhatatfirstseemslikeanabsenceofmontagein
NorthAmericanvisualculture.^24 Theapproachofthephotographer
WalkerEvansisnotablehere.Hewasfamouslyscepticalofthepopular
photo-storyformatandthedidacticuseofphotographyaspublicinfor-
mationorpropaganda.Toooftenimageandtextworkedtosecure
specificmeanings,tohead-offambiguityanddenyspacefortheviewer.
ThiswasatoddswithEvans’aspirationtoworkinthe‘documentary
style’,butasanartist.American Photographs( 1938 ),hisfirstandmost
complexbook,isanattempttobalancetheoftenconflictingdemandsof
factualdescriptionandpoeticconnection.Atfirstglancethebookseems
alongwayfrommontage.Thereisonephotographperspread,placedon
theright.Nearlyallofthemareformal,straightshotswithlittlehintof
narrative.Evenso,thesequencingenticestheviewerintoactivedecoding
ofrelationsbetweentheimages.^25 LincolnKirsteinhintedatthisinthe
essayincludedinAmerican Photographs:
Physicallythepicturesinthisbookexistasseparateprints.They
lackthesurface,obviouscontinuityofthemovingpicture,which
byitsphysicalnaturecompelstheobservertoperceiveaseriesof
imagesaspartsofawhole.Butthesephotographs,ofnecessity
seensingly,arenotconceivedasisolatedpicturesmadebythe
cameraturnedindiscriminatelyhereandthere.Inintentionand
ineffecttheyexistasacollectionofstatementsderivingfromand
presentingaconsistentattitude.Lookedatinsequencetheyare
overwhelmingintheirexhaustivenessofdetail,theirpoetryof
contrast,and,forthosewhowishtoseeit,theirmoralimplication.
Evansdevelopswhatwemightcallaconceptualpalimpsestinwhich 73
