For William Eggleston, People Are Like Parking Lots
The portraiture of William Eggleston, whose color photography helped shepherd the medium into the art world, is the exclusive feature of a new exhibit and book.
Most portrait artists attempt to differentiate the emotional essence of each individual subject. But William Eggleston, a father of color photography whose 1976 Museum of Modern Art exhibit arranged by John Szarkowski helped shepherd the medium into the art world — much to the chagrin of critics — insists that he photographs a person the same way he photographs a parking lot. A new exhibition of his portraiture at the National Portrait Gallery in London, however, belies that assertion by displaying more than 100 highly personal images.