William Eggleston

Eggleston was born in Memphis, Tennessee where he lives to this day. The son of a wealthy family, he grew up in a privileged and safe environment. Memphis is also his place of work, it is in this southern U.S. city where he was able to rescue art from its boring daily routine.

Does your environment sound familiar? Juergen Teller When he went to visit him in his hometown, he was totally surprised at how tasteless the place was. “nothing was happening”. But this becomes very interesting when observing Eggleston's work, who is an expert in transforming “nothing” into something sublime. There is no turning point There is no desire for denunciation or political questioning, it is simply his magical eye that sees visual poetry where no one else would find it.

William Eggleston he only takes one picture, never two, sometimes he doesn't even look through the lens and he is always, always spontaneous, this artist doesn't plan scenes or framing, it is life itself and its modern everyday life that constantly challenges him to make click . Even today, he still claims to take pictures every day. He wanders a thousand times through his familiar places, Leica in hand, finding endless novelties. He rarely photographs people, in fact his images generally give a sense of absence, of people who have passed and then disappeared. This characteristic imbues his work with a strangeness that opens the way to an unsettling sensation.

And although it is not the bulk of his work, when absence becomes presence, he captures people with the same mastery. There is a sense of a stolen moment in the ordinary, everyday life, these characters often do not even realize that they are being portrayed in the progress of their daily lives.

It is said that William Eggleston is the father of color photography. In the beginning he worked in black and white like everyone else. In the 60’s color was totally despised as the territory of the vulgar world of advertising, especially fashion. No one who wanted to work in this discipline in a serious and artistic way could dare to use color. But Eggleston did not intend to follow the rules; he soon switched to color and his work became iconic. When he had his first exhibition at the Moma in 1976, he was absolutely criticized and vilified, his art was truly radical.

He photographed in color when no one else did and shot his Leica from unthinkable perspectives. As for his personal life; at one period he owned two houses, one for his wife and children and one for his mistress. He chose Memphis to live in, a city isolated from the art world and with a conservative attitude.

We leave you here the documentary about his work titled The Colourful Mr Eggleston