Beauty And The Banal

Head of photographs Phil Prodger explains how William Eggleston used colour experimentally as the National Portrait Gallery opens the largest display of his portrait photography ever seen.

Perhaps we, as photographers, could all learn something from the work of William Eggleston. The work of this man, who was most prolific between the 1960s and the late 1990s, is accessible, aesthetically absorbing and somewhat addictive. He captures everyday life in midwest America, finding beauty in the most unexpected places and things.

The legacy of his work is apparent in the work of many modern photographers, such as Martin Parr, but this was a man whose style was slammed in the 1970s as “banal”. Now, Eggleston is celebrated for his experimental use of colour and his solo show at the Museum of Modern Art in 1976 is considered a pivotal moment in the recognition of colour photography as a contemporary art form.

Now aged 77, Eggleston is still taking photographs, but not as often as he used to. He shuns the limelight, rarely conducting interviews about his career or promoting his work. But we can seek insight into his life by looking at the photographs themselves. A major exhibition at London’s National Portrait Gallery, open now, does just that, featuring more than 100 works dating from the 1960s.

In putting the display together, the National Portrait Gallery’s head of photographs, Phil Prodger, worked closely with Eggleston, whose portraits don’t follow the traditional ‘head, eyes and shoulders’ format. In fact, they are far from conventional, with the photographer often adopting an unusual shooting position, and sometimes leaving the face hidden from view.

Any conversation about William Eggleston soon drifts towards the subject of colour, and for Prodger it’s one of the things that sets him apart from other photographers. “Eggleston’s colours are unlike any other artist’s on Earth,” he says. “They are bright, vivid, saturated gorgeous colours and I think people are really struck by that.”

IMPORTANCE OF COLOUR