William Eggleston @ The National Portrait Gallery
12:45
I went into the exhibition not knowing a lot of about William Eggleston, other than him being a photographer who influences both fashion and film. I was so surprised with how much I enjoyed his work, and I can’t believe I haven’t looked more into his work before, as it caters to a lot of my own interests and style. Eggleston is known for capturing every day life in high colour, often using interesting shadows and light. Many of his photos have a cinematic effect; telling a story like it’s a film still. A lot of the portraiture could also be used for fashion editorials, as the 70s and 80s context brings in the element of vintage fashion, as well as appreciating the image as a whole.
The postcard given to you as you enter the exhibition states his work is “vivid, poetic, and mysterious”, which I would completely agree with. The exhibition isn’t large, but displays enough of his work to give a sense of what he’s about. It begins with black and white portraits, then travels through his early experimentation with colour, into his abstract film making. I was drawn in by the film ‘Stranded in Canton’, where Eggleston documents his friends having fun in Memphis and New Orleans. It reminded me of 70s road trip films such as Easy Rider, and Jack Kerouac’s literature. The comparison with Easy Rider is something Eggleston would have been familiar with, as he shot portraits of Dennis Hopper not soon after the film was released. It also reminded me of Andy Warhol’s ‘Chelsea Girls’, which is two different films playing at the same time on a split screen, featuring Warhol’s friends hanging around the Factory. As mentioned before on this blog, I am a huge Warhol fan, so to learn that Eggleston was introduced to Warhol’s superstar Viva in the 80s, thus immersed into his inner circle, prompts me to learn more about him and his work.
As fore-mentioned, the exhibition really catered to my own interests. As I have studied both film and fashion, I really loved understanding the contextual links, like Dennis Hopper in Easy Rider, and how some shots can relate to the fashion of the time. I do lack knowledge on the technology of photography, so the information given in the exhibition about his colour work was slightly lost on me, but it didn’t take away the quality of the photos or how much I took away from it. A personal favourite of mine was his portrait of Joe Strummer from the Clash, which I wasn’t expecting to see, so my personal interests were met as well as my desire to learn more about photography which isn’t entirely fashion based. I came away from the exhibition feeling very inspired, and I know I will definitely refer back to this event and his work in future projects.
all photos credits go to nationalportraitgallery.com
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