EGGLESTON, William - Before Color

Background information

"A few years ago in the archives of the William Eggleston Artistic Trust in Memphis, a box was found containing William EGGLESTON’s earliest photography – remarkably in black and white. The photos were subsequently exhibited at Cheim & Read gallery in New York and sold. In the late 1950s William EGGLESTON began photographing suburban Memphis using high-speed 35 mm black and white film, developing the style and motifs that would come to shape his pivotal colour work including diners, supermarkets, domestic interiors and people engaged in seemingly trivial and banal situations.
Now, 50 years later, all the plates in 'Before Color' have been scanned from vintage prints developed by William EGGLESTON in his own darkroom.  In the mid 1960s William EGGLESTON discovered color film and was quickly satisfied with the results: 'And by God, it worked. Just overnight.' William EGGLESTON then abandoned black and white photography, but its fundamental influence on his practice is undeniable.

Content

This book, 'Before Color', reunites these photos in their entirety, and shows the artistic beginnings of a pioneer of contemporary photography.

Additional information

This new edition of 'Before Color' follows the sold-out first print-run." (publisher's note, © Steidl Verlag, 2012)

About US-American photographer William EGGLESTON (b.1939)

Photo books by and about William EGGLESTON