For the first time since 1976, William Eggleston has brought his artwork back to New York City. This artist has traveled through Japan, Russia, Italy, France, Mexico, and Spain to capture the world’s colors, but hasn’t traveled to New York to display his photographs in over thirty-three years. His art show entitled “Democratic Camera, Photographs and Video, 1961-2008” was on display at The Whitney, and lucky me got to see it before it closed on January 25th.
What pushed me to brave the bitter cold and commute into the city was a startling fact I only just discovered about William Eggleston. In a recent interview published in Warhol’s Interview magazine, he admitted, “Incidentally, all these years my wife has told me that I'm color-blind. I think with being blind the one thing you would have going is that you could still feel things, see your way around so to speak. And if you had had the experience of seeing at one time in your life, then you would know what it was like and be able to function. I've said this before, I think I could really photograph blind if I had to.” While reading this, I was in a state of wonderment as to how the pioneer of color photography could be color blind. Is it some ironic twist of fate that the founder of color photography has the inability to see color in the same manner as you and I? Or is it because of his colorblindness that he is hailed such a chromatic genius? Whatever the answer, one thing’s certain: possessing a unique perception of color hasn’t hindered this artist in any way, shape, or form.
He accomplished this by being the only color photographer in a sea of black-and-white photographers. He established color photography as art. He made it acceptable. Eggleston became interested in dye-transfer printing while he taught at Harvard University. This new process resulted in some of his most stunning pieces, including "The Red Ceiling" (pictured above).
The hype about the closing of William Eggleston’s exhibit was so great, we had to stand on a line that extended out the door and wrapped around the side of the building just to attain tickets. Once inside, it became a game of weaving in and out of my fellow Eggleston admirers, trying to seek out the photos I had studied in school. This was more challeng
ing than one might think.However, dragging my unenthused boyfriend to a (gasp) art museum in the freezing winter weather proved to be worthwhile. As soon as I stepped out onto the third floor, I was beaming. The first photograph I saw was the image of an elderly woman sitting on a couch. This was the piece that originally drew my attention to Eggleston’s work. The way the floral print on the woman’s dress complemented the print on the couch was very appealing to me from the onset. When viewing one of Eggleston’s pictures you can’t help but think, “Wow. This is what color should be, all the time.”
I discovered ten times more art than I expected to find that night.
Seeing the world through Eggleston’s eyes would be the greatest thrill of a lifetime. Unfortunately, his photographs are the only means we have to seeing color from his perspective. Through his pictures, Eggleston is able to share his world with us. I believe that maybe his color-blindness isn’t a curse, but a blessing. Would his pictures be the same without it? Would they bring joy to so many? Would they bring color to those whose lives are tinted gray?
William Eggleston’s Democratic Camera exhibit at The Whitney was perhaps the only chance any of us will have to witness true color with the founder of color photography himself. Seeing the world through Eggleston’s eyes was one of the most colorful nights I’ve yet to experience.
