Steidl
September 2021
September 28, 2021
William Eggleston: The Outlands comprises three volumes of never-before-published photographs of the prolific and extraordinary artist William Eggleston. The works are drawn from the same source as those the artist made on color transparency film from 1969 to 1974, which formed the basis for John Szarkowski’s seminal exhibition of Eggleston’s work at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1976, and the accompanying book, William Eggleston’s Guide.
The result is revelatory. Starting at almost the exact point on the same street in suburban Memphis where Eggleston famously photographed the tricycle, one of his most famous works, the book follows a route through the back roads to old Mississippi where he was raised. What is disclosed is a sublime use of pure color hovering in semi-detachment from the forms he records. At the time, Eggleston was photographing a world that was already vanishing. Today, this final installment of his color work offers a view of a great American artist discovering the range of his visual language and an unforgettable document of the Deep South in transition.