WILLIAM EGGLESTON (B. 1939)

'William Eggleston is commonly regarded as the premier contemporary photographer; he was first introduced with his Guide at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in the early 1970s. This revolutionized thinking about photography for at least a generation. Greenwood, Mississippi fascinates me. Here you are stripped bare in an existential muddle. The red is so saturated, the graffiti is so crazy and the man is so naked. Plus, he is smoking. It makes for a mad, thrilling combination of elements. The painted naked lady does not offer as dense an experience. The print of the man is a color dye transfer, a luscious way of handling color work, whereas the lady is a Type C print, which you more commonly see with contemporary prints. Eggleston wants that deep crazy red for the man; it is vital to the image. That is what his eye sees.' – W.M. Hunt