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Background information
"The publication of 'Chromes' by William EGGLESTON in 2011 marked the beginning of a series of books including 'Los Alamos Revisited' (2012) and the ten volume publication 'The Democratic Forest' (2015). These three volumes of 'The Outlands' come from the same source of photographs William EGGLESTON took on color film from 1969 to 1974 and which form the basis for the 'Chromes' volumes as well as for John Szarkowski's seminal exhibition of the works by William EGGLESTON at the Museum of Modern art in New York in 1976 with the companion volume 'William Eggleston's Guide'. However, with the exception of a few alternate versions, none of the photographs in 'The Outlands' have been previously published.
The content of 'The Outlands'
The result is revealing. The work begins almost exactly on the same street in a suburb of Memphis where William EGGLESTON photographed the famous tricycle that was immortalized on the cover of 'William Eggleston's Guide' and follows a route through the back roads to the old Mississippi where he grew up. What becomes evident is a sublime use of pure color that floats in the half-detachment from the forms he draws out. At that time, William EGGLESTON was photographing a world that was already disappearing. Today this last part of his work in color offers a glimpse of a great American artist who has discovered the breadth of his visual language and is an unforgettable document of the deep south in transition." (freely translated publisher's note, © Steidl Verlag, 2020)