‘William Eggleston’s Lonely South’ by Hilton Als
January 2026
One of the photographer William Eggleston’s great strengths—his inspiring force—is to know when he’s telling the truth about something and to stick with it. Although a number of critics didn’t respond especially warmly to his landmark show “William Eggleston’s Guide,” when it opened at the Museum of Modern Art in 1976—it was the first one-man show of color photography the museum ever presented—he dusted off that critical debris and continued to capture what he knew: an American South that had echoes of Zora Neale Hurston’s melancholy, amused reports from that region of the world, and that was as trenchant and lyrical as Tennessee Williams’s mid- to late-career one-act plays about Southern life. Read more.