Thinking about Eggleston
November 21st, 2008In an earlier post this week, I listed Friedlander, Eggleston, Stephen Shore, Diane Arbus and the Bechers as a group of progenitors of nearly everything that is happening in contemporary photography. Of course, this is not true. Or at least, it requires some clarification. There are far too many forces in the world pushing and pulling and shaping events, thoughts, attitudes and actions to distill the use of photography over a 30 year period down to just 6 people.
But the influence of these photographers is rather monumental (and that’s a statement I’ll stand behind). Many other critics have said as much, so I’m not really out on a limb here.
Lee Friedlander enjoyed a massive one-man retrospective in 2004 at the Museum of Modern Art, curated by Peter Galassi (but thoroughly endorsed and set into motion decades earlier by John Szarkowski).
William Eggleston had enjoyed his one-man show at MoMA back in 1976. It was also endorsed—hand-picked and curated—by Szarkowski, and by doing so, the rather young curator put his reputation truly out on a limb. I don’t want to go into all of that now, but suffice it to say that the show was hated and ridiculed.
The Whitney Museum of American Art is now thoughtfully revisiting the career and influence of William Eggleston, photography’s Southern, aristocratic gentleman. [The New York Times has published a wonderful review, by critic Holland Cotter. And The New Yorker's resident art critic, Peter Schjeldahl, has also reviewed the show.]
[The Eggleston Trust website has an amazing amount of information. Check out the monographs section for what appears to be a complete list of his major monographs. I'm sure there are numerous smaller catalogues from shows around the world that are not included, though. Also, check out the Articles & Essays section for the full content of things like Szarkowski's published introduction to William Eggleston's Guide, 1976, or Thomas Weski's essay from Los Alamos, published in 2003. A true resource.]
Photography: A Very Short Introduction
Words Without Pictures (Aperture, 2010)
Short Track, by Jake Mendel
Bird Watching, by Paula McCartney
November 21st, 2008 at 10:49 am
Hi Darius,
I worked as archivist and assistant at the Eggleston Artistic Trust, and also built the organization’s website. So when I attended the opening of the retrospective at the Whitney, I expected some disappointment. I say this with nothing but admiration and respect for the artist, his work, and the curators Elizabeth Sussman and Thomas Weski — Weski is, aside from the late, great Walter Hopps, probably the curator who best knows and understands Eggleston and his work. But there is just so much great work to address.
I also say this because many of the most beautiful, most intimate treasures of William Eggleston’s work — his limited edition artist books and portfolios — are not represented here. There are two copies of the Election Eve artist book on display in a glass vitrine, with one plate visible. There are three other artist books and at least 16 portfolios that he produced. If I’m not mistaken, none of them are included in the exhibition or catalog.
Of course it is the work inside the artist books and portfolios that is most important. But the books and portfolios are among the things that attracted me to Eggleston and his work. I admired the way the photographs were presented, as bodies of work, and the idea of the artist book or portfolio as an object (something I’m sure you appreciate as a book collector and publisher).
Luckily, all of the artist books and portfolios are represented on the Eggleston Trust website, with the exception of the exterior of 14 Pictures. The monographs are great, but people should take a look at the lesser-known, lesser-seen and under-appreciated artist books and portfolios, especially the earlier examples, as Eggleston had a bit more personal involvement in these projects (working with Caldecot Chubb) than the most of the monographs, which were edited and assembled by other people.
Christian