William Eggleston: Black and White to Color

WILLIAM EGGLESTON, hailed as the Father of Color Photography, was born in 1939 in Memphis, Tennessee, where he currently lives and works. 

Although he studied at various colleges and was aware of modern and pop art, he was self-taught. In 1976 at the age of 39, Eggleston was given a solo exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, titled Photographs by William Eggleston. Curated by John Szarkowski, this groundbreaking show endorsed color photography as a contemporary art medium. Eggleston’s innovative and unconventional approach to color, composition, and subject matter, initially shocked the photographic and art worlds and received harsh criticism and skepticism.

Eggleston’s work presents seemingly mundane everyday life through a different lens, rendering it complex and fascinating. Believing everything is worthy of being photographed, he once stated, “I like to photograph democratically.”

This exhibition, curated from private collections, traces the evolution of his early black and white work to his groundbreaking color work in various print types. It includes rare silver gelatin prints, vintage Kodak chromogenic prints, later chromogenic prints, dye-transfer prints, and contemporary archival pigment prints from various time periods.

His influence can be seen not only in contemporary photography and art, but transcends into fashion, film, and music.