William Eggleston, Untitled, c. 1983-1986, Pigment print, 45 x 64 1/2 x 2 1/4 inches, edition of 1 of 2, 2AP, Signed in ink and numbered, David Zwirner Gallery, New York & London / davidzwirner.com
William Eggleston
A man of few words, explores “democratic” color photography
(The mundane life surrounding us is filled with beauty and color, both vivid and subtle!)
At a recent Frieze Art Fair in NYC we came across these William Eggleston photos. As the publisher of ARTS&FOOD® I have a very interesting story about my encounter with Eggleston back when he had his landmark first solo exhibition of color photographs at MoMA, accompanied by a monograph, “William Eggleston’s Guide”.
At that time, I was the art director and one of the six founding staff members of Memphis Magazine. I drove over to Eggleston’s house in the Central Gardens section of Memphis, to collect some samples of his photographs to run along with the article. He was currently a rising star, and national success with his upcoming exhibition at MoMA but he was an unknown Memphian at the time, in his own hometown.
Being a gracious host, Eggleston met me at the door of his large and stately home, and invited me in. I told him I needed some samples of his work to run in the magazine. He led me across the foyer to the double doors of the dining room. When he opened the doors, I was gobsmacked to see a mountain of his now famous “pigment prints”, piled on the floor… hundreds of them! The mound of photographs must have been over four feet high at the center and sprawled to all four edges of the room.
His instructions to me, “Pick-out what you need, this is all of my work!” He then left me with his art! I picked out three prints, I liked and could reach from the edge of the pile. He also loaned us a black and white portrait to use in our article. I then left to work on the issue.
What an experience that day was for me. Of course, the photos were returned, but the memory will be forever etched in my mind as the day I met William Eggleston!
(Photos (copies) were taken by ARTS&FOOD® staff with permission of the gallery and the Frieze Art Fair PRESS Office.)
William Eggleston, Untitled, c. 1983-1986, Pigment print, 45 x 64 1/2 x 2 1/4 inches
edition of 1 of 2, 2AP
Signed in ink and numbered
David Zwirner Gallery, New York London / davidzwirner.com
William Eggleston, Untitled, c. 1983-1986, Pigment print, 45 x 64 1/2 x 2 1/4 inches
edition of 1 of 2, 2AP
Signed in ink and numbered
David Zwirner Gallery, New York London / davidzwirner.com
William Eggleston, Untitled, c. 1983-1986, Pigment print, 45 x 64 1/2 x 2 1/4 inches
edition of 1 of 2, 2AP
Signed in ink and numbered
David Zwirner Gallery, New York London / davidzwirner.com
William Eggleston, Untitled, c. 1983-1986, Pigment print, 45 x 64 1/2 x 2 1/4 inches
edition of 1 of 2, 2AP
Signed in ink and numbered
David Zwirner Gallery, New York London / davidzwirner.com
William Eggleston, Untitled, c. 1983-1986, Pigment print, 45 x 64 1/2 x 2 1/4 inches
edition of 1 of 2, 2AP
Signed in ink and numbered
David Zwirner Gallery, New York London / davidzwirner.com
BIO
William Eggleston Born 1939 in Memphis, Tennessee. Lives and works in Memphis, Tennessee. BIOGRAPHY Born July 27, 1939 Born in Memphis, Tennessee 1957 Acquires his first camera, a Canon Rangefinder 1958 Acquires his first Leica camera 1959 Sees Henri Cartier-Bresson’s “The Decisive Moment” and Walker Evans’s “American Photographs” 1965 Begins to experiment with color transparency film 1967 Starts to use color negative film. Goes to New York and meets Garry Winogrand, Lee Friedlander, and Diane Arbus. Presents his work to John Szarkowski at The Museum of Modern Art, New York 1974 Harry Lunn publishes the first portfolio of dye-transfer photographs, “14 Pictures.” Receives a Guggenheim Fellowship. Appointed Lecturer in Visual and Environmental Studies at Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Completes his “Los Alamos” project 1975 Receives a National Endowment for the Arts Photographer’s Fellowship 1976 The Museum of Modern Art exhibits work in first solo exhibition of color photographs accompanied by a monograph, William Eggleston’s Guide.
