William Eggleston - What You Need to Know

William Eggleston - Greenwood. Mississippi, 1973

Recently posted on ARTSY my favorite go to art site was a piece by Abigail Cain, A Road Less Traveled: How William Eggleston Transformed Photography in America. Cain writes:

Over the past five decades, Eggleston’s work—filled with fast-food wrappers, fading billboards, anonymous storefronts, and cracked highways—has documented a rapidly developing suburban landscape while encapsulating its alluring mundanity. His images also offered a powerful argument for the use of color photography in art, paving the way for the generations of color photographers that followed.
Although critics initially derided his work for looking cheap, Eggleston actually invested in the most expensive photographic process available to achieve his signature bright hues. Dye-transfer printing, then used solely for commercial work, cost around $1,000 for the first print. In exchange, Eggleston could define each color and its saturation individually. The Red Ceiling (1973) (also known as Greenwood, Mississippi), one of the photographer’s most iconic images, typifies his intense focus on color. “I knew that red was the most difficult color to work with,” he said. “A little red is usually enough, but to work with an entire red surface was a challenge.” Noting the ties between his work and that of non-fine-art photographers, Eggleston went on: “I don’t know of any totally red pictures, except in advertising. The photograph is still powerful. It shocks you every time.”

The piece is an informative read, for the complete article you can go to ARTSY - HERE. And while you are there you could sign up for the ARTSY newsletters.

William Eggleston - Untitled, 1981