Miami Herald
"Charmingly stuffed with time-frozen memories."

St. Petersburg Times
"Evans' Florida photographs ... perhaps now finally will get their due."

Book Description
American photographer Walker Evans (1903-1975) is best known for his portraits of Depression-era America, a number of which were included in Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941), his famous collaboration with writer James Agee. In 1942 at the behest of retired journalist Karl Bickel, Evans journeyed to Sarasota to take photographs for the Mangrove Coast, a book Bickel was writing about the long and colorful history of Florida's Gulf Coast. Featured in Walker Evans: Florida are the surprising images Evans took during that six-week stay in the area, which constitute a little-known chapter in Evans's distinguished career. Far from stereotypical postcard pictures of sandy beaches and palm trees, Evans captured a region of contradictions. Here in the nation's seaside vacationland, Evans focused his lens on decaying architecture, crowded street scenes, retirees, and numerous images of animals, railroad cars, and circus wagons from Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, whose winter home was Sarasota. Accompanying the fifty-two images in Walker Evans: Florida is novelist Robert Plunket's wry account of the human and geographic landscape of Florida.

About the Author
Robert Plunket is a columnist and actor who lives in Sarasota and the author of My Search for Warren Harding and Love Junkie.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

American photographer Walker Evans (1903-75) is best known for his portraits of Depression-era America, a number of which were included in Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941), his storied collaboration with writer James Agee. Evans journeyed to Florida in 1942 at the behest of Karl Bickel, a retired journalist living in Sarasota. Bickel asked Evans to take photographs for The Mangrove Coast, a book he was writing about the long and colorful history of Florida's Gulf Coast.

Featured in Walker Evans: Florida are the surprising images Evans took during his six-week stay in the area, which constitute a little-known chapter in Evans's distinguished career. Far from creating stereotypical postcard pictures of sandy beaches and palm trees, Evans captured a region of contradictions. Here in the nation's seaside vacationland, Evans focused his lens on decaying architecture, crowded street scenes, retirees, and numerous images of the animals, railroad cars, and circus wagons from Ringling Brothers Circus, whose winter home was in Sarasota.

Accompanying the fifty-two images in Walker Evans: Florida is novelist Robert Plunket's wry account of the human and geographic landscape of Florida. Plunket is a columnist and actor who lives in Sarasota and the author of My Search for Warren Harding and Love Junkie.

FROM THE CRITICS

Miami Herald

A photo album charmingly stuffed with time-frozen memories of roadside bars, automobile graveyards, narrow main streets, trailer parks, fishing piers and reassuringly glitzy-free tourist attractions.

St. Petersburg Times

Evans' Florida photographs ... perhaps now finally will get their due.

Alonso Duralde - The Advocate