William Eggleston

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William Eggleston (born July 27, 1939 in Memphis , Tennessee ) is an American photographer. He is considered a pioneer of artistic color photography .

life and work

William Eggleston, who came from a wealthy southern family, grew up on a family's cotton plantation (Mayfair) near Sumner, Mississippi , and began taking photos at the age of ten. During his studies at Vanderbilt University and the University of Mississippi , he dealt intensively with photography. From the late 1950s he worked as a freelance photographer in the southern states and in Washington, DC He was deeply impressed in 1959 by exhibitions of black-and-white photographs by Henri Cartier-Bresson (The Decisive Moment) , Robert Frank and Walker Evans (American Photographs) . From 1965 he experimented with color photos and used slide films , in 1967 he switched to color negatives .

Eggleston met leading photographers of his time in New York, such as Diane Arbus , Lee Friedlander and Garry Winogrand , and in 1967 he met John Szarkowski , then curator of the photography department of the Museum of Modern Art . In 1976 Szarkowski organized a solo exhibition for him in the New York Museum. The exhibition Photographs by William Eggleston established his fame and is still one of the milestones in photography - including the William Eggleston's Guide , which was published at the same time and is now available as a reprint . Although the exhibition was misunderstood by critics (the New York Times called it "the most hated show of the year"), it was meant to make history and mark the beginning of modern color photography. Since then, William Eggleston has been known as the “father of color photography” - not because of his technical, but his artistic innovation .

At an early age he turned to simple, not worthy of image motifs, comparable to the painter Edward Hopper . He had the prints made using the commercial dye transfer process , which until then had only been used for magazines and advertisements. One example is the image of the red ceiling in Greenwood, Mississippi (1973), which later became a style-defining feature for photographers. The color scheme seems fluffy, the perspective from a frog's perspective unconventional, like a snapshot . The lamp is just a socket for a bare lightbulb, but three white cables lead to it - the irritating detail. The arrangement of the cables and the edges of the room creates a balanced image composition.

With the introduction of color as a natural condition of perception, he decisively influenced international contemporary photography: Juergen Teller , Andreas Gursky , Sofia Coppola and David Lynch refer to him.

In the following years Eggleston made numerous trips abroad (including England, Spain, Jamaica, Kenya, South Africa, China) and he received orders for the documentation of industrial areas and administrative buildings. In 1983 Eggleston photographed Graceland , Elvis Presley's last refuge, for a tourist guide . However, contrary to his custom, he had to work in cramped conditions and use artificial light. The guide with the pictures was only offered for a short time; the following year Eggleston published his own selection with eleven photographs.

William Eggleston has received many awards. His photographs are in the possession of many international museums and collections. He describes his selection William Eggleston's Guide , published in 1976, as his most important volume in 2007, which also contains biographical references.

Exhibitions (selection)

Books (photo books, selection)

  • 1976: William Eggleston, William Eggleston's Guide
  • 1989: William Eggleston, The Democratic Forest
  • 1990: Willie Morris, William Eggleston, Faulkner's Mississippi
  • 1992: Eggleston
  • 1994: William Eggleston, Horses & Dogs
  • 1995: William Eggleston, It came from Memphis
  • 1999: William Eggleston, 2 1/4
  • 2003: William Eggleston, Los Alamos
  • 2008: William Eggleston, Spirit of Dunkerque
  • Chromes. Steidl, Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-86930-311-6 .
  • At zenith. Steidl, Göttingen 2013, ISBN 978-3-86930-710-7 .
  • From Black & White to Color. Steidl, Göttingen 2014, ISBN 978-3-86930-793-0 .
  • The Democratic Forest. Selected Works. Steidl, Göttingen 2016, ISBN 978-3-95829-256-7 .
  • Election Eve. Steidl , Göttingen 2017, ISBN 978-3-95829-266-6 .
  • Flowers . Steidl Verlag, Göttingen 2019, ISBN 978-3-95829-389-2 .
  • Teller, Juergen and Harmony Korine: William Eggleston 414. Steidl, Göttingen 2020, ISBN 978-3-95829-763-0 .

Awards (selection)

Movie

  • Reiner Holzemer, director: William Eggleston, photographer. Documentary, Germany, USA, 2008, 26 min.
  • Michael Almereyda, directed by William Eggleston in the Real World . Film portrait, USA, 2005 (English)

bibliography

  • Gunilla Knape (Ed.): William Eggleston - The Hasselblad Award 1998 . Scalo Verlag, Zurich. 128 pages with 61 color illustrations

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "Greenwood", Mississippi, 1973. His best-known photo, mostly titled "The Red Ceiling"
  2. ^ Announcement on the exhibition , accessed on August 6, 2014
  3. ^ William Eggleston - Los Alamos | Geweest. Retrieved September 25, 2019 (Dutch).
personal data
SURNAME Eggleston, William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American photographer
DATE OF BIRTH July 27, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Memphis , Tennessee