Tracing the history of documentary photography, from Walker Evans to Xavier Ribas

The medium of photography has long had tenuous ties to both the truth and the arts. This volume traces the evolution of documentary photography—from its origin as a journalistic tool through its development into a distinct artistic and aesthetic form. Beginning in the 1930s with Walker Evans’ foundational influence on the genre and culminating in the 1980s with the experimental color work of Anthony Hernández and Tod Papageorge, Sculpting Reality presents a careful selection of work from 18 of the most influential figures in 20th-century North American documentary photography.

Photographers include: Walker Evans, Helen Levitt, Robert Frank, Louis Faurer, Ricardo Rangel, Garry Winogrand, Susan Meiselas, Tod Papageorge, Anthony Hernández, Mike Mandel, Lee Friedlander, David Goldblatt, Ed Ruscha, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Lewis Baltz, Bleda Y Rosa, Xavier Ribas and Ian Wallace.