~WILLIAM EGGLESTON . . . also in the news, & ALAN LOMAX . .
photographer WILLIAM EGGLESTON, b. July 27, 1939 – also has work in the ‘Spectacular of the Vernacular’ exhibit currently up thru March 18, 2012 – at the ACKLAND ART MUSEUM in NORTH CAROLINA.
if you checked out that article in the INDY WEEK.COM you would have noticed his photograph of a vintage black car photographed from behind and covered by vines – which headlines their review.
but it’s his color portraits of people, in the vernacular !! that really rock the boat.
1970 COLOR PHOTO PORTRAIT by WILLIAM EGGLESTON.
PHOTO CREDIT: EGGLESTON ARTISTIC TRUST, CHRISTIE’S IMAGES LTD, 2012/image courtesy: THE NEW YORK TIMES
for example this one !! knock-out or what. talking bout realism, archiving Americana, and just plain ole spectacular vernacular … as the Ackland Museum – so rightly calls it !!
and, yet another old school-er . . . right on point.
down to that name-plate golden ankle – ‘bracelet’ dangling just so – above her left foot !! now we’re talking . . . about the (truly) vernacular.
this image made news last week in an article by CAROL VOGEL. apparently Mr. EGGLESTON, is working with Christie’s to bring several of his most famous images to a newer and bigger market, literally.
“In a rare departure Mr. Eggleston, 72, has blown up this image, [a signature photo of a vintage peaches sign] along with 35 others, from their original 16-by-20 inch sheets to a new, oversize 44-by-60 inch format.”
the article goes on to state that “computer technology” did not exist (obviously) “when he took these pictures in and around the Mississippi Delta where he lived.”
further . . . “back then color photography was considered cheesy. That was in the 1970s and 80s, when Mr. Eggleston took shots of anything and everything that struck his fancy.”
“On March 12 (2012) Christie’s will be selling 36 of these works in this new oversize format . . . the sale is expected to total more than $2.7 million, with estimates ranging from $30,000 to $300,000.”
“In recent years Mr. Eggleston’s popularity has soared. In 208, when the Whitney Museum of American Art held “William Eggleston: Democratic Camera, Photographs and Video, 1961-2008′, the show drew about 120,000 visitors, making it one of the most highly attended photography exhibits in the museum’s history.”
“I tried to go there one day after it opened,” Mr. Eggleston said, seeming surprised that people actually went to the show. “And it was so crowded even I couldn’t get in.” (!!)
read the whole article: ‘Eggleston Writ Large’ – Inside Art by CAROL VOGEL, New York Times
‘ADYN and JASPER’ – COLOR PHOTOGRAPH by WILLIAM EGGLESTON, image courtesy: WILLIAM EGGLESTON OFFICIAL WEBSITE
you can see more of his work: the EGGLESTON TRUST – WEBSITE !!
and . . . . regarding the VERNACULAR !!
the term is also in much play, currently – in the music world, as well.
case in point: an article on the legendary archivist ALAN LOMAX, (July 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002), titled ‘FOLKLORIST’S GLOBAL JUKEBOX GOES DIGITAL’, written by LARRY ROHTER, which just came out in NEW YORK TIMES, JAN 31, 2012.
the key sentence:
starting in the mid-30s, “At a time when there was a strict divide between high and low in American culture, and Afro-American and hillbilly music were scorned, Lomax argued that such vernacular styles were America’s greatest contribution to music.”
photo ALAN LOMAX took in a church in Portsmouth, Virginia in 1960. PHOTO CREDIT: ALLAN LOMAX/ASSOCIATION for CULTURAL EQUITY. image courtesy: NEW YORK TIMES
subtitle: ‘THE COLLECTION of the FOLKLORIST and ETHNOMUSICOLOGIST ALAN LOMAX is BEING DIGITIZED for DISSEMINATION.’
also, interestingly for New Yorkers: The Association for Cultural Equity, which is overseeing the project is headquartered at Hunter College in Manhattan, where it is headed by Lomax’s daughter ANNA LOMAX WOOD.
read the whole article: ALAN LOMAX: FOLKLORIST’S GLOBAL JUKEBOX GOES DIGITAL