For this museum catalogue of privately collected vintage Walker Evans prints, which was printed in both soft and hardcover for a large audience, the physical properties of this body of work suggested both format and production choices. Like several artists working with limited means in the 1920s and 1930s, Evans produced many powerful yet small prints. The number of these in the collection, plus Evans’s preference for modest format, helped indicate the choice of size.

Also, characteristic of this and other collections of early silver gelatin prints, there is a subtle and rich patina that can best be approximated with four-color printing. It was worth the effort to show this diversity in what may first appear to be black-and-white images.