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William Eggleston

American photographer who elevated color photography as fine art.

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His 1976 solo exhibition at MoMA marked a watershed moment for the acceptance of color photography by a major institution.[1][2] The American photographer William Eggleston, whose birth date is July 27, 1939, is recognized for his role in establishing color photography as a fine art medium.[3][2]

Life and work

At age 15, Eggleston was sent to the Webb School boarding school, which he recalled as having a Spartan routine to "build character"[4] He eschewed traditional Southern male pursuits like hunting and sports in favor of artistic pursuits and observation.[4] His early photographic work was inspired by Robert Frank and Henri Cartier-Bresson's book The Decisive Moment.[4] From 1973 to 1974, Eggleston taught at Harvard.[5]

While examining a photographic lab's price list in Chicago, he discovered dye-transfer printing, which produced his most striking work such as The Red Ceiling (1973).[5] Some of his early series, like The Nightclub Portraits (1973), were not shown until the late 2000s.[6] In 2017, an album of Eggleston's music titled Musik was released, comprising 13 experimental electronic soundscapes played on a 1980s Korg synthesiser.[7][8] Eggleston's work is held in public collections including the Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Modern Art, and Whitney Museum of American Art.[9]

During 1976, Eggleston met Viva, who was an Andy Warhol "superstar," and through this connection he got to know the people in Warhol's circle.[5]

What the cited sources add

Sean O'Hagan's 2017 interview notes that Eggleston's intense color photographs changed the way we see the world.[8] The same interview reports that Eggleston professed to have had "nothing whatsoever" to do with the selection of tracks or release of the album Musik.[8] David Lynch described Musik as "music of wild joy with freedom and bright, vivid colours"[8] Following the death of his wife Rosa in 2015, Eggleston moved to a large apartment in a retirement community.[8]

The Sotheby's biography states that Eggleston's "democratic way of looking around" allowed him to find sublimities in commonplace subjects.[2] Eggleston's works have been accessioned into the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.[2]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "William Eggleston" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Press release for Ernst Haas: Color Photography", MoMA, 1962; Poynor, "Ernst Haas and the color underground", Design Observer Group Observatory, January 19, 2012; "reCREATION: The first color photography exhibition at MoMA, 1962 ", Opinarte, 2005; "Ancient and Modern", Random House, 1992 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  2. "William Eggleston Art for Sale, Results & Biography Sotheby's", www.sothebys.com. facts only, no text reused. sothebys.com
  3. Wikipedia, "William Eggleston" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "William Eggleston Art for Sale, Results & Biography Sotheby's", www.sothebys.com (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "William Eggleston" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Belcove, "William Eggleston", November 2008 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "William Eggleston" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Ancient and Modern", Random House, 1992 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "William Eggleston" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Johnson, "Art in Review; William Eggleston", New York Times, July 29, 2005; Vogel, "Whitney Gets Works by William Eggleston", New York Times, October 22, 2009 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "William Eggleston" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: O'Hagan, "William Eggleston: 'The music's here then it's gone – like a dream'", The Observer, 19 November 2017 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  8. O'Hagan, "William Eggleston: 'The music's here then it's gone – like a dream'", The Observer, 19 November 2017. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com
  9. Wikipedia, "William Eggleston" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "William Eggleston, Art Institute of Chicago, https://www.artic.edu/artists/34368/william-eggleston; "William Eggleston", J. Paul Getty Museum; "William Eggleston: American, born 1939". Museum of Modern Art. Accessed 21 March 2018.; "Pilara Foundation Collection", Pier 24 Photography; "William Eggleston: American: 1939, Memphis, Tennessee". San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Accessed 22 March 2018.; "William Eggleston: 1939– ". Whitney Museum of American Art. Accessed 21 March 2018.; "William Eggleston", International Photography Hal en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article William Eggleston (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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