DAY 233

FAMOUS PHOTOGRAPHERS

Willing Eggleston (1939–)

SEEING THE SUBLIME IN THE MUNDANE

In her introduction to The Democratic Forest, a compendium of William Eggleston’s work, Eudora Welty states that an Eggleston photograph might contain, “old tyres, Dr. Pepper machines, discarded air-conditioners, vending machines, empty and dirty Coca-Cola bottles, torn posters, power poles and power wires, street barricades, one-way signs, detour signs, No Parking signs, parking meters and palm trees crowding the same kerb [sic].” Eggleston photographs democratically, finding beauty in the commonplace clutter of rundown suburban backyards and just about anywhere else. His subjects are often mundane, trivial, and ordinary, an ongoing record of Americana. Eggleston’s photographs are bold statements of super-saturated, lurid color, and he is credited with securing the recognition of color photography as a legitimate fine-art medium.

While teaching at Harvard in 1973 and 1974, Eggleston stumbled upon and adopted the dye-transfer printing process, which at that time was used primarily by the advertising industry. This chance discovery resulted in some of his most dramatic and well-known work, including The Red Ceiling. In 1974, he created his first portfolio of dye-transfer works, titled 14 Pictures, which was featured in a 1976 exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The exhibit was a watershed moment in the history of photography, the first solo-color photography exhibit at one of the most respected fine-art institutions in the world.

Eggleston’s photographs have been used as cover art for a variety of musicians, including the Memphis group Big Star, Alex Chilton, Primal Scream, Joanna Newsom, and Spoon. —GC