William Eggleston x27 s Guide 2nd Edition hardcover

Book Synopsis

William Egglestons Guide was the first one-man show of color photographs ever presented at The Museum of Modern Art， New York; it changed the worlds perception of color photography forever， and its accompanying catalog is now considered one of the most important American photobooks ever published

William Egglestons Guide was the first one-man show of color photographs ever presented at The Museum of Modern Art， New York， and the Museums first publication of color photography. The reception was divided and passionate. The book and show unabashedly forced the art world to deal with color photography， a medium scarcely taken seriously at the time， and with the vernacular content of a body of photographs that could have been but definitely werent some average Americans Instamatic pictures from the family album. These photographs heralded a new mastery of the use of color as an integral element of photographic composition. Bound in a textured cover inset with a photograph of a tricycle and stamped with yearbook-style gold lettering， the Guide contained 48 images edited down from 375 shot between 1969 and 1971 and displayed a deceptively casual， actually super-refined look at the surrounding world. Here are people， landscapes and odd little moments in and around Egglestons hometown of Memphis--an anonymous woman in a loudly patterned dress and cats eye glasses sitting， left leg slightly raised， on an equally loud outdoor sofa; a coal-fired barbecue shooting up flames， framed by a shiny silver tricycle， the curves of a gleaming black car fender， and someones torso; a tiny， gray-haired lady in a faded， flowered housecoat， standing expectant， and dwarfed in the huge dark doorway of a mint-green room whose only visible furniture is a shaded lamp on an end table. For this edition of William Egglestons Guide， The Museum of Modern Art has made new color separations from the original 35 mm slides， producing a facsimile edition in which the color will be freshly responsive to the photographers intentions.