Untitled
Photograph
1980 (made)
1980 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
William Eggleston (born 1939) changed the course of colour photography by translating the intense, super-real quality of colour transparencies into the saturated hues of dye transfer prints. Adopting processes previously used in advertising – the dye transfer technique was predominantly commercial at the time – Eggleston set a precedent for colour documentary and art photography that remains influential today. His work pinpoints the moment when colour began to be generally accepted as part of the language of art photography, and his subtle choices of camera positions loosened up photographers’ ideas about viewpoint.
In the early 1970s Eggleston began to photograph the realities of his own landscape in the American South. He finds ‘the uncommonness of the commonplace’ in ordinary scenes and places, as photographer Raymond Moore described it. Inspired by family snapshots, he focuses on the everyday and the overlooked in order to reveal them as remarkable.
In the early 1970s Eggleston began to photograph the realities of his own landscape in the American South. He finds ‘the uncommonness of the commonplace’ in ordinary scenes and places, as photographer Raymond Moore described it. Inspired by family snapshots, he focuses on the everyday and the overlooked in order to reveal them as remarkable.
Object details
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| Materials and techniques | Dye transfer print |
| Brief description | Photograph by William Eggleston, 'Untitled' from the portfolio 14 Pictures, dye transfer print, 1980 |
| Physical description | Colour photograph of temporary building frontage painted yellow. |
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| Gallery label | In the early 1970s, Eggleston began to photograph the realities of his own surroundings in the American South, focussing on surprising views of everyday things. Here he shows utilitarian architecture - a makeshift shop made strange by a dead-pan approach and the quietness of the sun-bleached scene. Eggleston manages to infuse even the most banal subjects with a palpable tension or latent sense of threat. His work changed the course of colour photography by translating the intense, super-real quality of colour transparencies into the saturated hues of dye transfer prints.(22/09/2004) |
| Credit line | Copyright William Eggleston, courtesy of Cheim and Read |
| Historical context | William Eggleston's colour photographs pinpoint the moment when colour photography began to be generally accepted as part of the language of art photography. Adopting processes previously used to manipulate advertising images, Eggleston set the precedent for colour documentary and art photography of the last twenty years. Eggleston finds in places such as shopping centres and ordinary interiors, "the uncommonness of the commonplace", as photographer Raymond Moore described it. Inspired by the beauty of family snapshots, Eggleston looks at the everyday and the overlooked in order to reveal them as remarkable. |
| Summary | William Eggleston (born 1939) changed the course of colour photography by translating the intense, super-real quality of colour transparencies into the saturated hues of dye transfer prints. Adopting processes previously used in advertising – the dye transfer technique was predominantly commercial at the time – Eggleston set a precedent for colour documentary and art photography that remains influential today. His work pinpoints the moment when colour began to be generally accepted as part of the language of art photography, and his subtle choices of camera positions loosened up photographers’ ideas about viewpoint. In the early 1970s Eggleston began to photograph the realities of his own landscape in the American South. He finds ‘the uncommonness of the commonplace’ in ordinary scenes and places, as photographer Raymond Moore described it. Inspired by family snapshots, he focuses on the everyday and the overlooked in order to reveal them as remarkable. |
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| Other number | plate 7 - series number |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.2783-1990 |
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| Record created | July 24, 2003 |
| Record URL |
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