Walker Evans - Florida (Photography Art eBook)

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Commissionedin 94 by

w r i t e r K a r l B i c k e l Walker Evans

traveled to F l o r i d a to take the photographs that were published a year

later i n Bickel s The Mangrove Coast.

These photographs constitute a

l i t t l e - k n o w n c hapte r i n Evans s l o n g

career. Pelicans, t r a i l e r homes,

dancing circus elephants f r o m the

B i n g l i n g Bros, w i n t e r quarters i n

Sarasota —the image ry Evans f o u n d

i n F l o r i d a was far removed f r o m the

Depression-era A m e r i c a w i t h w h i c h

this master photographer is so often

associated.

Walker Evans . loridabrings

together f i f t y - f o u r of Evans s p hot o

graphs of F l o r i d a accompanied by

an essay by novelist Bobert Pl unket,

who lives in Sarasota. Plunket s wry

account of the hum an and geographic

landscape of F l o r i d a provides a

superb c ount erp oint to Evans s pho

togra phs, rev eal ing a side o f Evans s

career that may come as something

o f a surprise to many of his a dmir ers .

F R O N T C O V E R Trailer in

Camp Sarasota: see p ge 56

R A C K C O V E R Three• Palms

see p ge 53



W

loridL K E R E V N S

With an essay by

R o b e r t Plunket

Th e J . P a u l G e t t y M u s e u m # L o s A n g e l e s



viii

Introduction:

Evans in Florida 1941

L ongtime newspaperman Karl

Bickel retired with his wife to Sarasota,

Florida, in 1985. Bickel had been presi-dent of what was then called United

Press Associations ( n o w U P I ) f ro m

1938 to 1985, had written the b ookJVeK;

Empires: Th e Newspaper and the Radio

(1980), and, in 1983, had confidentially

advised Charles Lindbergh on how to

deal with the media during the ordeal of

his son's kidnapping. In the quiet resort

town of Sarasota (population 8,000),

Bickel quickly became a community

leader working toward economic as well

as cultural improvements. He also took

up the hobby of investigating the history

of the west coast of the state. The result

of h is research w as The Mangrove Coast:

The Story of the West Coast of Florida. It is

a book that ranges from the geology of

the region to the legends of its explorers

to the author's personal reminiscences

about favorite fishing trips.

Th e Mangrove Coast concerns a

stretch of the state along the Gulf of

Mexico described by Bickel as extending

"f rom Ancolote Anchorage to Sanibel

K ey and then tapering off from Sanibelsouthward to the distant mouth of the

Shark." Bickel declares that the attrac-

tion of the Mangrove Coast is actually

to be found, not in its past, but "in its

intangibles: the gleam of white sand,

the softness of southwest winds, pink

and turquoise sunsets, and the abiding

simplicity of its people."

It does seem strange that Walker

Evans (1908—1975), a photographer who

consistently maintained that he found

nature uninteresting, was selected to

provide illustrations for a book about

the historical myths and natural beauty



of the nation's vacationland, its south-

ernmost state. But whatever the reasons

fo r the o ffe r , Evans was happy to accept

the job of illustrating Bickel's book,

which involved a six-week trip to Florida

in 1941 and paid him a much-needed fee.

Th e Mangrove Coast appeared in

1943 in a first edition that consisted of

Bickel's text (with an epilogue written

that January reflecting the recent e ffec ts

of wartime on Florida's west coast), fol-l owe d by a portfolio of thirty-two pho-

tographs by Evans, introduced with his

captions. This group of pictures is pos-

sibly the least known of Evans's pre-1945

works and survives in very few 19408

prints, most of them now located at the

Getty Museum. Their importance has

been overshadowed by Evans's New York

subway series of the same period, but

they exhibit the photographer's eye in

an equally exceptional way and, with

more exposure, should be accepted as a

significant phase in the development of

Evans's mature documentary style, com-

parable to his igSS work in Cuba and his

Depression-era pictures "from the field"

fo r the Resettlement Administration.

The selection of Evans's Florida

photographs presented here is accom-

panied by an essay by novelist Robert

Plunket, who lives in Sarasota. Mr.

Plunket knows Florida intimately,

and his wry assessment of the B icke l—

Evans collaboration places these

little-known photographs within thecolorful context o f the Mangrove Coast .

Judith Keller

Associate Curator

Department of Photographs

A Technical Note

Walker Evans: Florida

contains fifty-four gelatin

silver photographs, a num-

ber of which were first pub-

lished in Karl Bickel s Th e

M a n g r o v e Coast (1942).

All of the images were

selected from the Getty-

Museum s collection, the

largest holding of prints

made by Walker Evans him-

self. A few of the photo-

graphs have been slightly

cropped, and a very fe w

have been significantly

cropped. All of the pho-

tographs are reproduced in

their complete form, with

their dimensions and acces-

sion numbers, beginning on

page 64. Further information

about the prints, as well as

the entire Get ty collection of

Evans s work, can be found

in my Walker Evans: The

G e t t y M useum Collect ion

(1995).

J . K .

ix



It is not to be denied

that full hal f o f th etourists and travellers

that come to Florida

return intensel y

disappointed andeven disgusted.

Why?

— Harriet Beecher Stowe

Palmetto Leaves 1878

xi



Walker Evans the Mangrove Coast and Me

by Robert Plunket

Just about everyone in Sarasota does.

Fo r the past fifteen years I have been

one of the town's leading gossip col-

umnists. I've covered everything f r o m

charity balls to the Mayor's Prayer

Breakfast , from the high-school prom

to the opening night of the French Film

Festival, where Jeanne Moreau and

Audrey Hepburn, dressed to the nines,

vied f o r "best entrance." (Audrey won.)

I've roasted politicians, I've e m c e e d

charity auctions, I've modeled sports-

w e a r to b e n e f i t th e Humane Society.

I've even interviewed Warren Burger

and Pia Zadora, although not at the

same time.

1

C a l l m e M r C h a t t e r b o x



P A G E x i i

Tw o Giraffes, Circus Winter

Quarters, Sarasota

P A G E 3

Concrete Block Building with

Shell Decoration

And in doing so I 've learne d a lot

about Florida. It really is different down

h e r e — t h e w ay it looks, th e weather , th esocial pat terns , t he b rand-newness of

th e place . Everybody comes f rom s o m e -

where else, which me ans he has secrets

f rom his past back in Dayton, and in a

n u m b e r of cases those secrets involve

fo rmer wives who disappeared under

myster ious c ircumstances . An amaz ing

n u m b e r of people blow into tow n, make

a splashy nam e for them selves, a nd then

are arres ted. The buying and selling

of real estate is the dom inant industry .

Indeed, it could be said that the rea l-

estate ad is the pr incipal form of l i te ra-

ture here .

Even the ar t is dif fer ent . True ,

there is much conventional a r t—pa in t -

ings , perform ances , e tc . B ut the really

interesting artistic endeavors are usual-

ly disguised as something e lse — a

theme park , a mystery novel, a coconut ,

even a s imple vacat ion photograph.

Walker Evans took m any photographs

here in 1941, but they are not, definitely

not, vacation photograph s. They ar e

som ething else en tirely.

2



O P P O S I T E

Mystery Ship Roadside Ba r

5IEvan

i first becam e in teres ted in Walker

s because I am what you might call

a b iography freak. They are m y favorite

form of reading. I haunt th e "New Books"

section at Selby Library at least once

a wee k, looking for the latest . I ' l l read

anything, but I find myself mos t drawn

to the lives of those torture d twentieth-

century Am erican wri ters , t he ones

who smoke and drank too much and

then died young, thus becoming instant

legends . O ne thing I 've not ice d is

that in an as tonishing nu mb er of these

books , th e name W alker Evans keeps

popping u p .

Two o f Evans 's closest friends have

particularly interested me. The f irs t was



O P P O S I T E

Souvenir Shop Display

R I G H T

Racetrack Spectators

Hart Crane, one of the great poets of

the twe nties. Talk abo ut intense : he

worked on one p o e m fo r seven years—

The Bridge— fo r which Evans took th e

f ron t ispiece photograph. Crane was a

binge dr inker and an indefat igable

sailor-chaser, that is, unt i l he sur-

prised everyone by running off with

Malcolm Cowley's wife. They went to

Mex ico and moved in wi th K ather ine

Anne Por t e r . Bu t on t he way back ,Crane had second thoughts an d jum ped

ship, l i teral ly, leap ing o ff th e stern o f

the SS Orizaba and drowning just nor th

of Havana.

Jam es Agee was even s t ranger .

His career was the triumph of the will.

7



N o b o d y wanted to be a great writer

more that he. He published one very

good novel, A Death in the Family, more

or less to prove that he could, but he

is best remembered for his collabo-

ration with Evans, Let U s Now Praise

Famous Men, and his screenplay for

Th e African Queen. Like Crane he died

young, a heart attack in a taxicab.

He was literally worn out by art. He was

one of the original "problem smokers";

he had a bad heart but couldn't stop

his constant intake of nicotine. Women

found him very sexy in a Nicolas Cage

sort of way, and as he is a biographer's

dream, there are quite a few books

about him.

Evans is the mystery of the trio.

O ne reason may be that he lacked the

energy of his friends. He was cool,

passive, shy, more a voyeur than a partici-

pant. Evans didn't wear his heart on his

sleeve like Crane and Agee. He loved

people-watching, particularly when he

could do it in a reclining position. Today

there are many artists like h i m — A n d y

Warho l and R. Crumb leap to m i n d — b u t

Walker Evans was, back in the '3os and

'408, ahead of his time, personality-wise.

An example: he embraced the com-

mercial. Indeed, his career was one

of moving from job to job. Most of his

m a j o r work resulted from becoming

attached to a project initiated by some-

8



one else. The best known was, of course,

Le t U s Now Praise Famous Men. B ut therewere others as well; the book you're

holding in your hands is the result of

one of Evans's more exotic assignments,

and just about the only one that could

be described as fun.

It all began when Evans was con-

tacted on behalf of a man named Ka r l

Bicke l , who needed some photographs

fo r a book he was writing. Bickel had

recently retired to Sarasota af te r a long

and distinguished career in journalism

that started with his coverage of the San

Francisco earthquake. He moved f r om

strength to strength until he ended up

as head o f U P I .

He joined various civic boards and

boosted the city. He led the drive to

build a big pavilion out at Lido Bea ch ,

and his wife, M a di r a , is still remem-

bered for her ironfisted rule of the localwomen's club. But they both had an

intellectual side as wel l , and the history

of Florida became their specialty.

Indeed, M a di r a rose to such promi-

nence in the state historical society

that an ancient Indian midden, or pile

of shells, is named in her honor up in

Terra Ceia.

K a r l decided to do her one better,

though. He would write a book detail-

ing the long and co lo r fu l history of

the Gulf Coas t of Florida, to be titled

Th e M angrove Coast, af te r th e ubiqui-

tous plant that grows half-in and half-

out of the water and covers much of

9

now in his new home

kar l se t ou t to bec om e

sarasatas ideal citizen

the active retiree.



L E F T

Two Me n Fishing

O P P O S I T E

Shuffleboard Players

th e shore l ine . And he wou ld get a f i rs t -

ra t e pho tograph e r to supply the p i c -

tures . W alker Evans, who was, after all,

th e f i r s t pho tographe r t o be h o n o r e d

with a n ex hibit at the M u s e u m o f M o d -

ern Art , sounded pe rfect .

With his Guggenhe im m oney run-

ning out (he 'd received a fe l lowship

in 1940) and the re lease of Let Us Now

Praise Famous Men so d i sappo in t in g—the

b o o k sold a m e r e six hundred copies —

Evans m ust have been very happy wi th

the prospect of spending s ix weeks in

Florida, al l expens es p aid, just as cold

was settling in up N o r t h . F u r th e r m o r e

it wou ld be a f ree honeymoon: Evans

had just m arr ied Ja ne Smith N i n a s , a

pain ter. And so, in late Oc tob er of 1941,

th e newlyweds set out for the west coast

of Florida.

10



12I

th e phrase "west coast o f Flor ida"

is drawing a b lank in you r mind, don ' t

worry: even pe ople on the eas t coas t of

Flor ida don ' t know mu ch abou t it . You

grow up on one coas t and spend you r

entire life th ere, w ithout going to the

other . One reason is the j ou rn ey itself ,

an endless dr ive through swam p o r

sugarcane o r ca t t le ranches . The only

human se t t l emen ts a re migran t -worke r

and pr ison camps. T he m essage is c lear :b ehave , o r you ' ll end up in the middle

of the state.

N o one denies that th e east coast

is m ore g lamorous . It always ha s b e e n .

T h e r e w as nothing qui te as exc i t ing

as M i a m i B e a c h in the 19508, and n ow,

in its new guise, the B e a c h is b a c k

o n top , with all those hip mo dels and

no p lace to pa rk . A nd Pa lm Beach

has a lways bee n o ne o f the most g lam-

orous places in the wor ld , a t o p - t e n

con ten der . Even B oc a R a ton , even

Ft. Lau derdale . . . .B ut Tampa?



L E F T

Cypress Swamp

13



Like any self-respecting

place w ith a similar parb-

lem , the w est coast concedes

glamour but insists that

it is m ore :rea l In this case, "real" mea ns

real old and real quiet, a nd with a n

indigenous population that is real South-

ern in thought and action and lifestyle

(i.e., lots o f pickup t rucks with Co nfede r-ate flags). The ec ono m y centers around the

re t i rement industry , and anyone under

fifty is perceived a s startlingly young.

Though there are pockets of affluence

(Naples an d, near Sarasota , Longboat

Key), the general atmosphere is m iddle-

class M idwestern, with palm trees.

Keep i n mind that th e w est coast

of Florida is not the same thing as the

Gulf Coast. T he Gulf Co ast stretches

f rom Pensaco la , at the Alabama bor -

der, all the w ay south to the end of

th e mainland, jus t nor th o f K ey W est.

The west coast is the lower par t o f the

Gulf Coast , th e par t that faces west ;up in the Panhandle, the land faces

south. These two par ts of the Gulf

Coast, like the east an d west coasts,

have nothing to do with each other

and are , i n fact, separated by anothe r

natural barr ier . On the m ap i t looks

l ike an enormous mangrove swamp.Whatever it is , i t is impen etrable , and

no one ever goes there .



16

P A G E 1 4

Auto G raveyard at Tampa

P A G E 1 5

Upstate Roadside Landscape

R I G H T

Fishermen in Sponge Boat,

Tarpon Springs

O P P O S I T E

Sponge-Diver s Boat,

Tarpon Springs



The west coast, where Evans too k

al l his photographs, begins north of

Tampa with a smattering of little towns,

the most interesting of which is TarponSprings, where fifth-generatio n Greeks

dive for sponges. N e x t com es Tampa

itself. On the surface it seems to be a

large co mm erc ial cen te r o f no par t i cu -

lar in teres t , but the m o r e yo u study i t,

the mo re i t becom es very interes t ing

indeed. Criminals on the lam are always

being caught in m otels there, and a seri-

ous devil-worship problem exis ts amo ng

the young; yet anoth er claim to fame is

that it has the highest incidence of light-

ning strikes in th e country . S t. Peters-

burg, across th e bay, funct ions as a glum

Brooklyn to Tampa's M anhattan. I t was

here that a broke n, barely m iddle-agedJack K erouac drank himself to death in

his mo ther 's ho use.

Heading south, we next encou nter

Bradenton, an old Southern town fam ous

as the h o m e o f Tropicana Orange Ju ice .

1 8



L E F T

Crowd Waiting at Street

Corner, Tampa

19



2

Then comes Sarasota, about which more

later, and then Venice, where retire-

m e n t has b e co m e no t jus t a lifestyle but

th e l ifestyle. (I on ce c overe d a party

there attended by, among others, twenty-

seven people over the age of one hun -

dred.) Ft . Myers is next ; it is very large,

over two hun dred thousand inhabitants ,

but oddly out of the mainstream . I 've

only had occasion to go there once, and

al l I can remem ber is banyan t rees and

lots of traffic. N e x t com es N aples , which

is very opulent. Old money retires here ,but it is smal l ish—popula t ion twenty-

one t h o u s a n d — a n d , as they say, "dead

in the sum mer." South of N aples is a

place called Mar co Island, crowded with

vacation condos whose charm eludes

m e, a nd then... nothing.



O P P O S I T E

M en in the Street a t Tampa

L E F T

Blind Couple

in Tampa City Square Hall

21



O P P O S I T E

Coastal Landscape

with Palms

If the west coast of florida

seems a little off the beaten

track now , just im ag ine

how isplated it must have

seemed back in 1941.That was before a i r -condi t i on ing a nd

mosqu i to con t ro l . Roads were few and

pr imi tive ; m uch o f the t r an spo r ta t ion

was by boat . When Char les and Anne

Lindbergh came for a vis i t , they packe d

as if for a safari.B ut Sarasota was a happy ex cept ion

to all this. I t was wor ld famous back in

those days, as the ho m e of the Ringling

Br os , and B a r n u m & B ai ley Circus , a

beaut i ful , pristine litt le town of eight

t h o u s a n d — t h e undisputed star of the

west coast. I t had thirty-five miles of

white-sand beaches and a cosmopo li tan

popu la t ion . T he bars must have been

grea t ; people still talk abou t the old

Plaza, not to mention the M 'To to R oom

( n amed after a famo us gor i lla) at the ElV ernona Ho tel , where there were c ircus

acts and dancing every night. Visiting

celebrities cam e through regularly. T he

Que en of Iran showe d up, plus Will

Rogers , and even Albert Einstein, w ho

was fitted with a truss at B adger 's Drug

?



4

Store on M ain Street. The house where

he stayed is still standing on South Polk

Drive out on Lido Key, mak ing Sarasota

one o f the few places where we can trulysa y we had "Einstein on the B each."

Karl B ickel gave Evans carte b lanche

as to what to take pictu res of , and it's

not surprising that the urbane photogra-

pher , w ho bought h is clothes at Brooks

Brothers , decided to concentra te h is

efforts on Sarasota. The road trips were

few and not very produc tive. (I won der

if M adira and her middens had any-

thing to do with this.) A journey to

Tallahassee* yielded a single port ra i t

of an antebellum mansion and a s ide-

walk scene. Tam pa and St. Pete regis-

tered as group portraits of grim, elderly

w o m e n . Only Tarpo n Springs acqu itted

itself we ll: Evans loved the diving suit

(p . 39) and the amateurish mura ls (pp.

3o —3i ) , versions of which still decora te

the Tarpo n Springs of today.

*Ralph Waldo E m e r s o n , no less ,

descr ibed T allahassee as "a

gro tesque plac e," set t led b y

"office h olders , speculators ,

an d despe rados ." Even in

1826, few writers were wil l ing

to give th e west coas t a break .



O P P O S I T E

Antebellum Plantation

House at Tallahassee

L E F T

Negroes at Tallahassee

35



*6



8



P A G E 26

The Green Benches at

St. Petersburg

PA G E 27

Winter Resorters

P A G E 28

Winter Resorters

R I G H T

Sponge Diver s Suit,

Tarpon Springs

For h is Sarasota photograph s ,

Evans managed to capture the things that

were unique to the tow n. First , of cours e,

came the circus. Time af ter t ime h e j o u r -

neye d out to the east of tow n to visit

th e Ringling circus winter quarters a ndpho tograph t h e an imals , th e archi tec-

ture, the ra i l road cars , and m ost of

all, t he elabora te, hand-carved ci rcus

wagons that were used i n count less

parades down the M ain Streets of

count less Am erican towns .

9



P A G E S 3 0 — 3 1

Descriptive Painting b y

a Sponge Diver

R I G H T

Caged Baboon, CircusWinter Quarters

s



It i s hard fo r us to imagine th e hold th e

circus had on everyday life six ty or so

years ago. For many children, the day the

circus came to town w as the high poin t

of t he yea r .

The story of Sarasota and the cir-

cus is a sad one, particularly because

it began so happily. Back in the 19308

Joh n Ringling, the bra ins of the fiveRingling brothers , came to Sarasota for

a vacation. He was imm edia tely s t ruck

by th e town 's poten t ia l and began buy-

ing up everything in sight, developing

it , selling lots, laying o ut streets ; he

was, quite literally, building a city.

he twentieth centuary has

killed of f m an y th ing s, but

its saddest casua lty m ay

well be the circus.



R I G H T

Balcony Car, Circus Train,

Winter Quarters, Sarasota



L E F T

Ringling Bandwagon, Circus


P A G E S 36-37

Uninhabited SeasideResidence in Sarasota

(Ca d Zan, formerly the

Ringling Residence)

35



3 6

He construc ted a palace on the bay for

himself a nd his wife M ab le and his col-

lec t ion of Old Masters and b egan work

on a Ritz G ar l ton Ho te l . In 1927 h e

moved his en t i re opera t ion here f rom

B ridgepor t , Connec t icut (where, inter-

estingly, W alker Evans also took ph o-

tographs in the '40 8 —b ut that's an o ther

s tory) . Sarasota suddenly becam e unique

in the world: it was a one-industry town,

and that industry was the c i rcus .

For years it was a role that Sara-sota played proudly . In no t ime the win -

ter quarters, with its m enager ie and

rehearsa ls open to the publ ic in an ou t -

doo r arena bu i l t to the exac t spec if ica-

t ions of M adison Square Garden , becam e

the biggest tourist a t t rac t ion in the

state. I t was the Disney W orld of its day.Tourists still show up looking for i t . And

w h e n the depress ion hi t , the circus

enabled the town to survive quite nicely.

T h e p e r f o r m e r s put down roots here, as

mu ch as c ircus perfo rm ers can , and for

a small town in Florida, Sarasota devel-

oped quite an ec lec t ic pop ula t ion m ix.

W e had aerialists f rom Europe ; we had

mid ge t s—for a t ime w e had more ex -

M un chk in s than any place in the wor ld ;

I used to see them in the supermarke t ,

but sadly most have passed away. And

we had the Ringlings themselves, with

their mans ions on the bay and their

Dynasty-like struggles over control oftheir empi re .

W hen Evans visited in 1941 the

circus w as still in its glory days, and

glor ious they were. One small ex ample:

the elephants he photograph ed going

through their paces in the ou tdoo r

arena would , in a ma tter of weeks , beginwor k o n their new showstopper for the

194? seaso n. I t was a "Circus Polka"

with mu sic com missioned especially

f rom Igor Stravinsky, to be choreo-

graphed by George B alanchine, with

c o s tu m e s b y N o r m a n B e l G e dd e s .



B E L O W

Unfinished Boomtime Hotel

O P P O S I T E

Circus Trainer with

Performing Elephant,


38



T h e stars were Old Mo doc, the grea t O P P O S I T E



c ircus elephant bur ied somewhere in an

unmarked grave in the Kens ington Park

subdivis ion , and V era Zor ina , who was

then Balanchine's wife. T he N ew o r k

Times (April 10 , 1 9 42) p ron ou n ced it

"breathtaking":

The cast inclu ded f i f t y ballet girls, all in

f l u f f y p ink , and f i f t y danc ing e lephants .

They came into the ring in artificial, blue-

lighted dusk, first the l i t t le pink dance rs,then the grea t beasts. The li tt le dance rs

p i roue t ted in to the three r ings and the e le -

phant herds gravely swayed and nodded

rhythmically. The arc of sway widened and

the s to mping p icked up wi th the music .

In the central ring Mo d o c the Elephant

danced w ith amazing grace , and in t ime to

the tun e, closing in perfect cadence with

th e crashing finale. In the last dance f i f t y

elephants m oved in an endless chain

aroun d the great ring, trun k to tail , with

the li t t le pink ballet girls in the blue twi-

l ight behind them. The grou nd shook wi th

th e e lephants ' m easured s teps.

Jus t when things were getting really

bad and the c ircus needed every break i t

could get, Sarasota ungratefully zone d

it out of town . I t seem s that circu s pe o-

ple live with an inordinate am oun t of

strange eq u ipmen t—gau dy trailers, wild

animals, trapeze rigging in the b ack-

y a r d — a n d one by one a l l these necess i-

ties were prohib i ted . They h ad b e c o m e

a l i tt le em barrass ing in a carnival,

hon ky- ton k so r t of way. B esides, th e

town h ad foun d a new source o f weal th:

th e ret i red Midwesterners w ho began

moving here in the 19508.

Tw o Circus Trainers with

Performing Elephants,


PAGE 4 2

Three C ircus Train Cars,

Winter Quarters. .Sarasota

Televosion killed the

circus, But Sarasota, t

its sham e, helped out.

4io



4?

Even though Ringling B ros , left



in 1960, f irst moving to V en ice , then

to Tam pa, Sarasota remains a c ircus

town . Over a doze n smaller c i rcuses a re

headqua r te r ed here , though the i r p er -

f o r mance sch edules get smaller and

smaller with each pass ing yea r . Man y

of the great circus families are still here,

though mos t o f the youn ger m emb e r s

have left th e bus iness . My o ld neighbor

Gu nther W allenda taught his tory a t

Sarasota High. And O lympia Zacch in i ,th e daughter of the f i rs t wom an shot

out o f a can n on , is a p romin en t local

artist. There is one R ingling left in

t own , Pat Ringling Bu ck. She is a gossip

columnis t jus t l ike m e. Or she was.

N ow she's a critic .

4

P A G E 4 3



Man at Work on Circus

Wagon, Sarasota

R I G H T

Detail of Circus Wagon,Sarasota

O P P O S I T E

Circus Winter Quarters,

Sarasota

4 4

B ut if the circus is but a shell of its

f o r mer self , i t has given Sarasota a his -

tory of c rea t ive endeavor unpara l leled

in the wo r ld . This is the town where the

f amous gag with all the clowns piling

out of the tiny car was invented. This iswhere Franz Unus l ived, t he m an who

could s tand on one f inger . And then

the re were th e elephants . What th e New

o r k Times didn't tell y ou ab ou t was an

incident that occurred during a rehearsa l

at the win ter quarters. Things w ere

going f ine until a sudden no ise f r ight-en ed the herd and they all took off en

masse, heading sou th. T he image of a

dist raught Geo rge B alanchine chas ing

a he rd of eleph ants, all c lad in p ink

tutus, down Lockwood Ridge Road—that ,

to m e, is Sarasota, a nd always will b e.



P A G E 4 6

Circus Wagon (Calliope Car),




P A G E 4 7

Ringling Bandwagon, Circus


48 A friend of mine , visiting Sara-

sota for the f irs t t im e, called it "pretty,

but not that pre t ty ." It is f lat as a bo ard.

The vegetation i s scrubby i n some areas ,tropical in o thers . There is nothing dra-

matic or brea thtaking about i t ; when

real beauty takes over, i t com es f rom

the changing colors of the sky and water.

This was som ething W alker Evans

was n o t much in te res ted in. He was

clearly a n artist who did not fall victim

to nature 's charms. N o wo nder Ansel

Adams hated h is work . The only natural

thing he really l iked was driftwood,

which at least he could collect. One can

even sense a certain hosti l ity in his

photograph s of the M angrove Coast 's

L E F T



Inland Landscape

B E L O W

Pelican on a Dock

4 9



True, the water does tend to be a little



5*

tepid and calm a nd ba th tub- l ike , p a r -

ticularly in August, and they are eroding

at a n appalling rate . B ut they rem ain th e

town's pride and joy, not to me ntion a

little gold mine.

B ut where ar e they? A ll we get are

several shots o f misshapen palm trees

growing mu ch to o close to the waterl ine.

Wh e re is the Lido Casino, the glorious

Art Deco beach pavi lion c ham pioned

by his hos t , M r. Bickel , bu t sadly torndown in the 19608? W here are the pale

tourists , the tots with pails , th e shell

collectors?

Appareently

Evens just

wasnt a neach

erson.

P A G E 51

Tw o elicans o n a Dock



O P P O S I T

elican

L E F T

Three alms

B E L O W

Gulf of Mexico



54

enthusiasm for t ra i le rs m atches mine,

but I think that Evans may well be that

person , m y imaginary t ra i le r f r iend , s o

to speak .

For year s I 've been trying to get

people to pay at tent ion t o these fasci -nating things, but it's clear that they are

jus t no t going to . Tha t 's o ne of the rea -

sons it's so hard to do research about

t ra i le rs . There ' s been noth ing wri t ten

ab ou t t h e m . And it doesn 't look l ike the

si tuation is about to change. I 've be en

shopp ing a round m y coffee- tab le b o o k ,

Trailer Style, fo r years , wi thout a nibble .

People jus t don ' t get it .

B ut I have the feeling that they

were right u p Evans's al ley. Ima gine:

a l it tle m etal house that m oves. Ho w

could you not be fascinated?

But if he didn t like

the beach he certainly

like d tra ile rs. I've yet to meet another person whose



56

And yes , there is a windmill. It

towers over the place, housing th e c lub-

P A G E S 54-55

Recreational Vehicle with

Striped Canopy



How I would love t o show Evans a

few o f my favorite trailer parks: places

like M e l - M a r V illage up in B raden ton .

Here t he trailers are in what I call t he

"Toaster Style," which clearly caught

Evans's e ye, too [opposite page] . Every-

where yo u look there are long- f o r go t t en

names: First Lady, Pine Tree, Pal, Flame,

and New Mo on. Clear ly M e l - M a r V illage

belongs to the Classic Period.

O r rather the Early Classic Period.

Windmill Village N o r th — n o t to be con-

fused with Windmill V illage Sou th—isLate Classic. He re th e look i s 1959. T he

shape is larger, squarer. Gone is any pre-

tense that these things can move. Porche s

sprout, plus carports . B ay windows appear,

and if you 're lucky, you m ay even get fins.

house in its base, with the poo l right

in f ron t . And the streets are n a m e d

af te r Dutch che eses. A good dose o fw e l l - d o n e kitsch i s always a plus in a

trailer pa rk ; no one knew this b e t te r

than Evans.

Recent ly , when I was in-be tween

houses and had no place to live, I actu-

ally got to spend three weeks in such a

park. I t was called Tropical Acres, and

it was heaven . M y trailer w as a great

b ig double -wide, with so much space

that i t had rooms I never even went in .

(The only problem w as a cer ta in wobble

when y o u walked f ro m one end to the

other . ) M y neighbors w ere the n icest

people in the world. W hen my ca t got lost

they organized into t eams and comb edthe park, looking under every trailer

and even searching th e sewage treatment

plan t next door . M y favor i te neighbor

was the gu y right across th e street. H is

trailer was tiny, barely 8 b y 13. He and

O P P O S I T E

Trailer in C amp, Sarasota

57

L E F T

Statuette of a Cherub



58

O P P O S I T E

Municipal Trailer Camp

his wife hauled i t down each win ter f r om

Mich igan . In their minuscule f ron t yard

they had a plas ter goose, and each day

they would dress

the goose in a d if feren toutfit . That goose h ad mo re c lo thes than

I did. If it was raining he wore his yellow

slicker, but if it was sunny and bright, you

never knew what h e might have on, and i t

reached the po in t whe re I got out of bed

in the morning jus t to see what the goose

might be wearing. M y favorite outfit was

a gendarme's un ifo rm, complete with a

l i t tle goose -s ized cape. Something tells

me Evans would have been very inter-

es ted in this goose; whene ver I think

about it, I can a lmost hear h im yel l ing

from beyond t he grave: "Get the camera "



6 o he M angrove Coast was published

in 194? and was a big h i t — e x c e p t for

the pictures. They just didn't mesh with

the text. Bickel

was dispensing popular

history at its most eager-to-please, full

of "lore" about pirates and explorers

and moonshiners. The photographs

supplied by Evans were about some-

thing else entirely. The two sat there

in uneasy proximity as the first edition

ran its course, but for the second and

subsequent editions the photographs

were dropped entirely.

I doubt that Evans minded much.

Pearl Harbor was attacked while he and

Jane were walking on Siesta Bea ch ; f r om

then on, he, like everyone else, had a

di f f e r en t set of worries. He went to

Washington to investigate war work but

ended up becoming a movie critic for

Time. In 1948 he switched over to the

art department at Fortune. It was during

his tenure that Fortune achieved a level

of art direction and photography rarely

seen in a magazine. It could be argued

that his cushy corporate job kept him

f rom his art; in reality, i t — l i k e his Sara-

sota a s s i g n m e n t — b e c a m e his art.

Evans would cross paths with the

Mangrove Coast again and again. His

sister and brother-in-law settled on

Anna Maria, the barrier island just

north of Longboat, and he would come

to visit o f t en , usually to escape the

L E F T

Banyan Tree



61



6s

win te r chill or to r ecover f rom the ill-

nesses that plagued h is la ter life. B ut

lived and wrote here, e levat ing the lowly

mystery novel to art as he e x p l o re d t he

O P P O S I T E

Circus Building, Winter

Quarters, Sarasota



the re is no r eco rd that he kep t up with

the Bickels or that he pa r t i c ipa ted in

th e life of Sarasota. I t wou ld have bee nout of charac ter if he had.

The B ickel house still stands, sud-

denly back in the n ews as Sarasota 's

la test controversy. Th ere are plans t o

demolish i t —i t has been derel ic t a n d

ab an don ed fo r over twenty y e a r s — i n

order to widen the s t reet in p repa ra t ion

fo r a new Ritz Car l ton Ho te l , an ee r ie

echo of Joh n Ringling's ea r l i e r d ream .

T he his tor ica l preservat ion is ts are up

in a rms as usua l , but everyone suspec ts

they will lose on this on e , too . T he city

has a lready des troyed most of i ts pas t,

usually af te r great civic debate and ago-

nizing feelings of guilt.B ut Sarasota remains a very lucky

town. Over a nd over i t has b een touched

by genius . First there was R ingling and

th e circus. Then came J o h n D . MacDo nald,

the m ystery novel is t. For th ir ty y ears he

mora l d i lemm as of that odd new cul ture,

the Sun Bel t .

And now we have these ex traor-d inary photographs b y Walker Evans ,

powerful evidence—Harr ie t B e e c h e r

Stowe notwiths tanding—that not every-

on e r e tu rn s f rom Florida "intensely

d isappo in ted , and even disgusted."

They presen t a Flor ida tha t doesn ' t exis t

an ymore , and what a strange place it

must have been , so foreign looking, so

handm ade. I f they show anything, i t is

that artif iciality is many layers deep.

And wha t b e t t e r way to illustrate this

than with pic tures of a small town in

Flor ida where the circus is king, peli-

cans fill the a ir , and the peo ple l ive in

little tin houses tha t they can move

f rom place to place?

63

The Photograph s



6 4

Postcard Displa y

1941

6 7

/ i 6 x 5' /4 . in .

84 xM 956 874

P A G E i i

Ci r c us Tr ai ner Lead in g El ep hant

Wi nt er Quar t e r s , S ar as o t a

1941

6 V . 6 X 715 / 3 Z in .

84. XM 956.94 1

P A G E i i i

R ui n Tab b y Cons t r uc t i on

1941

7 / . 6 x 67/, 6 i n .

84.XM.956.844

P A G E i v

Tor n R i ng l in g Br ot her s P os t e r

1941

6 V s a x 8 V ,6 in .

84.XM.956.914

P A G E

R es or t P hot og r ap he r a t Work

1941

6 Y 4 x 8

l3

/ 1 6 i n .8 4 . x M . 9 5 6 . 9 4 8

P A G E i x

Woman wi t h Car f r o m

S t . P e t e r s b ur g Al l i g at or Far m

19415 - V . 6 X 5 V , i n .

84 xM 956 938

P A G E X

Tw o G i ra f fe s, Ci r c u s Wi nt er

Quar t e r s , S ar as o t a

19415 ' 5 / l6 x

37 A 6 i n .

84.XM.956.859

P A G E x i i

Conc r e t e B l o ck Bui l d i ng w i t h

S he l l Dec or at i on

1 9417 x 8

3 l/ 3 2 in .

8 4 X M 9 5 6 8 7 1

P A G E

M ys t er y S hi p R oad s i d e B ar

1 941

6

<

V i 6 x 7

3l

/ 3 a in .8 4 X M 9 5 6 9 8 6

P A G E 4



S ouveni r S hop Di s p l ay

1941

6 '9 / 3 , x 8 i n .

84.XM.956.985

P A G E 6

R a ce t ra ck S p ec t a t or s

1941

82

5 / 3a x3

7 A 6 i n .

84.XM.956.1076

P A G E 7

Tw o M en Fishing

1941

59A6 x 4a '/ 3 3 in .

84.XM.956.908

P A G E 1 O

Sh u f f l e bo a rd P l a y er s

1941

35S/3,X7 /3 ain.

8 4 . X M . 9 5 6 . 9 1 3

P A G E 1 1

Cypress Swam p

1941

9 x 6 5 / 8 i n.

8 4 . X M . 9 5 6 . 8 7 9

P A G E 1 3

Aut o Gr aveyar d a t Tamp a

1941

15 A 6 x 73A6 in .

8 4 . X M . 9 5 6 . 9 4 4

P A G E 1 4

Upstate Roadside Landscape

1941

5 V i 6 x 6 5/ 3 3 in .

84.XM.956.987

P A G E 1 5

Fisherman i n S p ong e B o a t ,

Tar p on S p r ing s

1941

6a' / 3 3 x 6

3A 6 i n .

84 ^ 956 855

P A G E l 6

S p ong e-Di ver ' s B o a t ,

Tar p on S p r i ng s

1941

63/ s x 6 V 3 , i n .

84.XM.956.929

P A G E 1 7

C ro w d Wai t i ng a t S t r ee t Cor ner ,

Tamp a

1941

S S / a x ^ V s j i n .

84.XM.956.34 6

PAGE 1 9

Me n in the Street at Tamp a

1941

6 ' / 8 x 4is / i 6 i n .

8 4 . x M - 9 5 6 . 9 3 4

P A G E 2 O

Bl i nd Coup l e i n Tamp a Ci ty

S quar e H al l

1941

7 1 / , 6 X 7 I / 4 in .

8 4 - X M . 9 5 6 . 8 1 4

P A G E 2 1

Coas t a l Land s c ap e wi t h P al ms

1941

7 5 / 8 x 9 Vi6 in .

84.XM.956.919

P A G E 2 2

A n t e be l l u m P l a n ta t io n H o u s e

at Tallahasse e

1941

6 3 A 6 x 6 l3 / 3 2 in .

8 4 . X M . 9 5 6 . 9 2 3

P A G E 2 4

Negroes at Tallahassee

1941

6 ' 5 7 , 6 x 6 i n .

8 4 . X M . 9 5 6 . 8 8 2

P A G E 2 5

65



6 6

T h e Gre e n Be n ch e s a t

S t . Pe te r sb u rg

1941

7 5 / , 6 x 63Y 3 2 in .

8 4 . X M . 956.930

P A G E 26

Winter Re sor te r s

1941

6 s / 8 X 7 ' 9 / 32 in .

84 .xM .956 .93 9

P A G E 27

Winter Resor te r s

194

73/ , 6 x 7 V 8 m .

84XM. 956. 889

P A G E 2 8

Sponge Diver 's Suit,

T a rpon S pr in gs

1941

8 9/ ,6 x 6 ' /4 in.

84. X M . 956. 868

P A G E 29

D e sc r ip t iv e Pa in t in g

by a Sponge Diver

1941

47/i 6 x 79/166 in .

84XM. 956873

P A G E S 3 0—31

Ga ged B a b o o n ,

C i rcu s Winter Qu a r te r s

1941

6 * 9 / 3 ax 5 5 / . 6 in .

8 4 .XM .9 5 6 .8 8 5

PAGE 32

Ba lcony Car, Circus Train,

Winter Qu a r te r s , S a ra sota

1941

7 5 / 8 x6 " 7,6 in .

84 XM 956 946

PAGE 34

Rin gl in g Ban dwagon ,

Circus Winter Qu a r te r s , S a ra sota

1941

83

/ 8 x 6 ' A i n .

84^.956.875

P A GE 35

U n in h ab i te d S e as ide Re s ide n ce in

S arasota (Ca 'd 'Z a n , f o r m e r l y t h e

Rin gl in g Re s ide n ce )

1941

6 V 8 x 8 ?/8 i n.

84 XM 956 827

P A G E S 3 6 - 3 7

U n f i n i s h e d B o o m t i m e H o t e l

1941

4l3

/ 3 2 x 7 5 / l6 i n .

84 XM 956 867

P A G E 3 8

C ircu s T ra in e r w i th

P e r f o r m i n g E l e p h a n t,

Win te r Qu a r te r s , S a ra sota

1941

6 " 7 , 6 x 8 in .

84 XM 956 829

P A G E 3 . 9

Tw o C i rcu s T ra in e r s

wi th Pe r formin g Ele ph an ts ,


1941

6 "7,6 x 8 '7/3a in.

84 XM 956 853

P A GE 4 O

Three Circus Train Cars,


( r e v e r se d p r in t in g)

1941

7 3 / 1 6 x 8 1 5/ 1 6 i n .

84 XM 956 8o3

P A GE 4 2

M an a t Work on C i rcu s Wagon ,

S a ra sota

1941

82 3

/3 2 x 6 *3/3 2 in .

84 XM 956 940

PAGE 43

D e ta i l of C i r cu s Wagon , S a ra sota

1941

83

/ 4 x 5 ' 5 / l6 i n .

84 XM 956 877

P A GE 44



Ci r cus W i n t e r Qua r t e r s ,

Sarasota

1941

73/ , 6 x 8 7 / 3 , i n .

8 4 . x M . 9 5 6 . 9 4 3

P A G E 4 5

Ci r cus W a gon (Ca l l i op e Ca r ) ,

W inter Qu a r t e r s , Sa r a s o t a

1941

5l 3

A 6 x 9 ' / 8 i n .

8 4 . x M .95 6 . 8 5 i

P A G E 4 6

Ring l ing Ba ndwa gon,

C i r cus W i n t e r Qua r t e r s , Sa r a s o t a

1941

7I1

/ , 6 x 6aV 3 2 in .

84 . XM . 956 . 881

P A GE 47

In l a nd La nds ca p e

1941

7 ' 5 / 3 2 x 63

/ , 6 i n .

84 XM 956 887

P A GE 9L E F T

Pel i ca n on a Dock

1941

8 x 6 V i 6 i n .

84.xM.956.876

P A GE 9R I G H T

6 7

Two Pe l i ca ns on a D o c k

1941

6 l cV 3 2 x 5 "/,6m.

84. XM. 956935

P A G E 51

Pel i ca n

1941

71/ 4 x 5

1/ 4 i n .

84 XM . 956. 860

P A G E 5 -2

Thr ee Pa lms

1941

8 '/3a x 6 V 2 in.

84. XM. 956. 86

P A G E 58 L E F T

Gulf of M e x i c o

9 4

5 5 / 1 6 x 7 7 / 1 6 in .

84XM. 956. 981

P A G E 58 R I G H T

Recr ea t i ona l Veh i c l e wi th

St r ip ed Ca nop y

1941

53/ 4 x 8

11/ , 6 i n .

84. XM. 956. 983

P A G E S 54-55

Tr a i l e r in Ca mp , Sa r a s o t a

1941

63l

/3,x6l3

/3ain .

8 4 . x M . 9 5 6 . 9 4 5

P A G E 56

Sta tue t t e of a Cher ub

1941

8 V 8 X 7 ' / , 6 i n .

84 XM 956 930

P A GE 58

M unic ip a l T r a i l e r Ca mp

1941

6 ' /3 2 x 73/3 2 in .

84.XM956.798

P A G E 59

Ba nya n Tr ee

1941

7 9 / l 6 x 5 5 / l6 1 n .

84.XM956.948

P A G E 61

Circus Building, Winter Quarte:

Sa r a s o t a

1941

6 2

s/3 2 x 65/3. in.

84 .xM .956 .883

P A G E 6 2



68

Library o f Congress

Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Evans, Walker, 1903—1975.

Walker Evans: Florida /

with an essay by Robert

Plunket.

p . cm .

I S B N 0-89386-566-8

i. Gulf Coast (Fla.)

Pictorial works. 2,. Gulf Coast

(Fla.) Description and travel.

3. Florida Pictorial works.

4. Florida—Description and

travel. I. Plunket, Robert.

II. Title.

F3i7.G8E93 2,000

975.9-dc2i 99-272 .79

CI P

© 2000 The J. Paul Getty Trust

1300 Getty Center Drive

Suite 400

L os Angeles, California

90049-1681

www.getty.edu/publications

Publisher

Christopher Hudson

Managing Editor

Mark Greenberg

The J. Paul Getty Museum

acknowledges the cooperation

of The Walker Evans Archive

at The Metropolitan Museum

of Art.

Project Staff

Editor

John Harris

Designer

Vickie Sawyer Karten

Production Coordinator

Suzanne Petralli Meilleur

Photographers

Charles Passela

Ellen Rosenbery

Photographic Technician

Rebecca Vera- Martinez

Cataloging Assistant n, Depart-ment of Photographs

Michael Hargraves

Printed by

Gardner Lithograph

Buena Park, California

Bound by

R o s w e l l Book Bindery

Phoenix, Arizona

M ap of Florida and line art

f r o m : Florida: A Gu ide to the

Southernmost State by the Fed-

eral Writers' Projec t of the

Work Projec ts Administration,

edited by the State of Florida.

Copyright 1989 by the State of

Florida Dept. of Public Instruc-

tion. Used by permission of

O x f o r d University Press, Inc.

F R O N T C O V E R : Trailer i n

Camp, Sarasota-, see page 56.

B A C K C O V E R : Three Palms-,

see page 58.

f related interest from


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238 pages 150 black-and-white and

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