Christenberry, Eggleston at Princeton

Distinguished Southern photographers William Eggleston and William Christenberry both have work in a group show entitled Starburst: Color Photography in America 1970–1980 now up at the Princeton University Art Museum through September 26th. Work by Harry Callahan, who spent a number of years in Atlanta at the end of his career, is also included.

This show is curated by Kevin Moore and claims to be 'the first historical survey of what critics of the 1970s dubbed “The New Color Photography.” It includes the work of 18 photographers "who embraced color despite, or precisely for, its seeming artlessness." 

Moore writes that while "the duality inherent in black-and-white made it ideal for diagramming intense feelings (hope vs. gloom, righteous vs. evil, ugly vs. beautiful), color’s equanimity gave artists a way to explore the ambivalent mood of a decade trailing the heels of the Sixties: an era of collapsed ideals, disappointed hopes, upended social values, and unsettled sexual politics."

Good to see Southern pioneers of color photography getting their due recognition in this show.