Grace Elizabeth Hale on William Eggleston

Grace Elizabeth Hale, Professor of History and Director of the Program in American Studies at the University of Virginia, has published a very fine, thoughtful, extended discussion of William Eggleston's show At War with the Obvious, now up at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, through July 28th, 2013..

You can find her essay on the website of Southern Spaces, the journal of Southern culture published at Emory University, here.

Hale discusses at length photography of the South, juxtaposing the work of Walker Evans with that of Eggleston, and, of course, black and white versus color image-making. But she is more interested in Eggleston's interpretation of the South, his perspective on his subjects, the ethical implications of his work, and his place in American culture..

She concludes, "Eggleston's South is not the folksy land beloved by music fans and folklorists for its "authentic" way of life and rustic charm, its old buildings and old sounds and old signs. It is not the civil rights South, full of earnest and moral activism.

"Here, threat lurks not under a Klan hood but inside a red room where a drug-addicted dentist lives his last days. A tricycle is monumental but also ominous, and a Confederate flag can work as a compositional device.

"Eggleston's South is a place where the horrors of history suggest no solution, no forward motion in anything as orderly as progress. The current Eggleston revival suggests that this South makes sense to contemporary art lovers (at least) in our own historical moment."

This is exceptionally thoughtful and insightful writing, well worthy of our attention.

While you are at the Southern Spaces website, also check out some of their other  discussions of photography and the South, including Hale's  "Wounds, Vines, Scratches, and Names: Signs of Return in Southern Photography" (2011).

Also check out Scott Matthews, "Flatlands in the Outlands: Photographs from the Delta and Bayou," also from 2011, and William Christenberry's "Place, Time, and Memory," from 2007.

Christenberry, William. "Place, Time, and Memory." Southern Spaces, September 28, 2007. http://www.southernspaces.org/2007/place-time-and-memory.
Hale, Grace Elizabeth. "Wounds, Vines, Scratches, and Names: Signs of Return in Southern Photography." Southern Spaces, February 23, 2011. http://southernspaces.org/2011/wounds-vines-scratches-and-names-signs-return-southern-photography.
Matthews, Scott L. "Flatlands in the Outlands: Photographs from the Delta and Bayou." Southern Spaces, December 12, 2011. http://southernspaces.org/2011/flatlands-outlands-photographs-delta-and-bayou.
- See more at: http://southernspaces.org/2013/egglestons-south-always-color#sthash.V4xENZBI.dpuf

Christenberry, William. "Place, Time, and Memory." Southern Spaces, September 28, 2007. http://www.southernspaces.org/2007/place-time-and-memory.
Hale, Grace Elizabeth. "Wounds, Vines, Scratches, and Names: Signs of Return in Southern Photography." Southern Spaces, February 23, 2011. http://southernspaces.org/2011/wounds-vines-scratches-and-names-signs-return-southern-photography.
Matthews, Scott L. "Flatlands in the Outlands: Photographs from the Delta and Bayou." Southern Spaces, December 12, 2011. http://southernspaces.org/2011/flatlands-outlands-photographs-delta-and-bayou.
- See more at: http://southernspaces.org/2013/egglestons-south-always-color#sthash.V4xENZBI.dpuf

Eggleston's South is not the folksy land beloved by music fans and folklorists for its "authentic" way of life and rustic charm, its old buildings and old sounds and old signs. It is not the civil rights South, full of earnest and moral activism. Here, threat lurks not under a Klan hood but inside a red room where a drug-addicted dentist lives his last days. A tricycle is monumental but also ominous, and a Confederate flag can work as a compositional device. Eggleston's South is a place where the horrors of history suggest no solution, no forward motion in anything as orderly as progress. The current Eggleston revival suggests that this South makes sense to contemporary art lovers (at least) in our own historical moment. - See more at: http://southernspaces.org/2013/egglestons-south-always-color#sthash.V4xENZBI.dpuf

Eggleston's South is not the folksy land beloved by music fans and folklorists for its "authentic" way of life and rustic charm, its old buildings and old sounds and old signs. It is not the civil rights South, full of earnest and moral activism. Here, threat lurks not under a Klan hood but inside a red room where a drug-addicted dentist lives his last days. A tricycle is monumental but also ominous, and a Confederate flag can work as a compositional device. Eggleston's South is a place where the horrors of history suggest no solution, no forward motion in anything as orderly as progress. The current Eggleston revival suggests that this South makes sense to contemporary art lovers (at least) in our own historical moment. - See more at: http://southernspaces.org/2013/egglestons-south-always-color#sthash.V4xENZBI.dpuf