William Eggleston - Before Color

Venue details

Nederlands Fotomuseum
gebouw Las Palmas
Wilhelminakade 332
3072 AR Rotterdam
T: +31 102 030 405
www.nederlandsfotomuseum.nl

Event details

American photographer William Eggleston (1939) is widely considered to be one of the first major pioneers of artistic colour photography. His most famous book, William Eggleston’s Guide, was one of the most influential photography books of the 20th century, and to this day remains an inspiration to many. However, Eggleston’s recently discovered body of early black & white photographs are less well-known. These early images provide a fascinating picture of American suburban life in the 1960s, and prove that Eggleston found his personal style and photographic motifs early on.

In contrary to important American photographers at the time such as Ansel Adams, who were interested in the stunning American landscape, Egglestion was fascinated with Henri Cartier-Bresson’s snapshots of everyday life. Under the influence of the French photographer and his 1952 book The Decisive Moment, Egglestion started photographing his own surroundings: a suburban Memphis filled with diners, car parks and supermarkets. He also started documenting the domestic houses and interiors of the city’s citizens.

As Eggleston would later abandon black-and-white film altogether, this earliest work was forgotten over time. It was therefore a surprise when a box of his black-and-white photographs was recently found in the archives of the William Eggleston Artistic Trust in Memphis. This exhibition will display for the first time in the Netherlands a selection of nearly 40 photographs from William Eggleston’s early career. 

William Eggleston has been featured by GUP before here.