FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 24, 2017
Contact:
Francesca Ascione, Marketing & Graphic Design Coordinator
The Mennello Museum of American Art
407.246.4113
[email protected]
The Mennello Museum of American Art
Presents The Work of William Eggleston
Orlando, FL — May 24, 2017
The Mennello Museum of American Art is pleased to present the work of William Eggleston in their
upcoming solo exhibition, The Beautiful Mysterious: The Extraordinary Gaze of William Eggleston.
The exhibition will be on view from June 23 through September 3.
The Beautiful Mysterious: The Extraordinary Gaze of William Eggleston is guest curated by American
novelist, Megan Abbott, and includes 36 color and black-and-white photographs from the University of
THE MENNELLO MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART IS OWNED AND OPERATED BY THE CITY OF ORLANDO.
900 E. PRINCETON STREET ● ORLANDO, FL 32803 ● 407.246.4278 ● FAX: 407.246.4329 ● WWW.MENNELLOMUSEUM.ORG
Mississippi Museum’s remarkable permanent collection, including some photos never before
exhibited.
Eggleston, a renowned American photographer, is acclaimed for elevating color photography and
transforming ordinary scenes into fine art. Through the eye of Eggleston, nothing is ordinary, despite
his photographs’ apparent depiction of ordinary things and ordinary people doing ordinary things.
Eggleston once said, “I am at war with the obvious,” a phrase curators at the Metropolitan Museum of
Art thought apt enough to use as the title for a 2013 exhibition of his photographs from their
permanent collection
Shannon Fitzgerald, Mennello Museum Executive Director, states “William Eggleston is the pioneer of
color photography and single-handedly introduced color to the field, thus elevating photography’s
place in art history and museums. I am thrilled to share his compelling images with Orlando.” She
continues: “ His work is deeply poetic, utilizing his own invented visual language that includes the
mundane in everyday life—barns, trains, cafes, motels, gas stations, parking lots, laundry lines, Coke
signs—creating a distinct Southern vernacular without nostalgia or sentimentality. It is exciting to
share one of America’s greatest photographers with our community.”
A Memphis native, Eggleston acquired his first camera in 1957 at age 18. During his time studying art
at Ole Miss, his interest in photography grew. He soon began to experiment with color negative film.
Today, Eggleston is a world-renowned innovator of color photography, transforming ordinary scenes
into fine art.
The exhibition is organized by the University of Mississippi Museum, who owes its vast collection of
Eggleston photographs to the generosity of Dr. William R. Ferris, scholar, author and founding
director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture, University of Mississippi who personally
donated his collection to Ole Miss. Ferris, a photographer and longtime friend of Eggleston, describes
him as “the greatest living color photographer.” “He is the Picasso or Faulkner of what he does.”
Ferris continues, “This exhibit allows everyone to know his work, which is part of the legacy of Ole
Miss.” Michael Glover, art critic for the British newspaper The Independent, agrees. His review of the
2013 opening of the permanent Eggleston installation at the Tate Modern was headlined, “Genius in
colour: Why William Eggleston is the world’s greatest photographer.”
Greatest or not, art critics agree that Eggleston’s work has shaped art photography since 1976, when
the Museum of Modern Art presented the now famous exhibition William Eggleston’s Guide, its firstever solo exhibition of color photography. Since that watershed exhibit, Eggleston’s work has
influenced art photography and even filmmaking. Film directors citing his influence include John
Huston, Gus Van Sant, Joel and Ethan Cohen and David Lynch.
It was Lynch who brought Eggleston to the attention of the exhibition’s guest curator, American
novelist Megan Abbott, University of Mississippi’s 2013-2014 John and Renée Grisham Writer in
Residence and an Edgar Award-winner. Abbott has drawn her own inspiration from his photos for
THE MENNELLO MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART IS OWNED AND OPERATED BY THE CITY OF ORLANDO.
900 E. PRINCETON STREET ● ORLANDO, FL 32803 ● 407.246.4278 ● FAX: 407.246.4329 ● WWW.MENNELLOMUSEUM.ORG
many of her novels. She helped choose the pieces for the exhibit, which capture scenes from more
than two decades. “To me, his photographs evoke entire worlds, not worlds we merely see, but
worlds we feel, smell, touch,” she said. “When you look long enough at his photographs, like the
gorgeous, lonely blue parking lot chosen as one of the exhibit’s central images, you get lost in it.
You’re in another place.” Acclaimed photographer, first cousin and Eggleston protégé Maude
Schulyer Clay served as consulting adviser for the exhibit. In 2015, German photo book publisher
Steidl produced a collection of Clay’s portraits titled Mississippi History. Steidl discovered her
photographs while working with Eggleston on the multi-volume set Chrome (2011) and Los Alamos
Revisited (2012).
Eggleston’s published books and portfolios, include Los Alamos (actually completed in 1974, before
the publication of the Guide) the massive Election Eve (1976; a portfolio of photographs taken
around Plains, Georgia before that year’s presidential election); The Morals of Vision (1978);
Flowers (1978); Wedgwood Blue (1979); Seven (1979); Troubled Waters (1980); and The Louisiana
Project (1980). William Eggleston’s Graceland (1984) is a series of commissioned photographs
of Elvis Presley’s Graceland, depicting the singer’s home as an airless, windowless tomb in custommade bad taste. Other series include The Democratic Forest (1989), Faulkner’s Mississippi (1990),
and Ancient and Modern (1992). In 2016, The Democratic Forest was presented in a solo exhibition
at David Zwiner, New York with a new publication.
Of his 2013 Metropolitan Museum exhibition, At War with the Obvious, New York Times critic Ken
Johnson writes “But photographs like Mr. Eggleston’s are not like movie images, which come in linear
sequences, establishing explanatory narratives around scenes that would be mysterious, were they
viewed in isolation. There is no before and after here, so the photographs remain provocatively
enigmatic, which accounts for much of their poetic resonance. His pictures tease the mind, eliciting
associations and possible meanings that swirl around them like bugs around a light bulb.”
In 2016, The New York Times Style Magazine featured Eggleston on the cover of the “Greats”
edition, photographed by famed contemporary photographer Wolfgang Tillmans. Writer Augusten
Burroughs wrote “A visit with the American Master of color photography reveals him to be every bit as
brilliant, confounding and heartbreakingly soulful as the pictures he makes.”
A clear spring rises somewhere on the home place, for the human strain begins there for Mr.
Eggleston, and we see it in what follows: it turns into a river that runs through, or underneath,
every place succeeding it. Whatever is done to block it or stop its flow, it surfaces again. Pure
human nature proves itself in likely or unlikely places.
—Eudora Welty
William Eggleston, born in 1939 currently lives and works in Memphis, Tennessee.
The Beautiful Mysterious: The Extraordinary Gaze of William Eggleston is organized by the University
of Mississippi Museum and Historic Houses with exhibition support provided by the Friends of the
Museum. Additional support by Dr. William R. Ferris and the Eggleston Artistic Trust.
THE MENNELLO MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART IS OWNED AND OPERATED BY THE CITY OF ORLANDO.
900 E. PRINCETON STREET ● ORLANDO, FL 32803 ● 407.246.4278 ● FAX: 407.246.4329 ● WWW.MENNELLOMUSEUM.ORG
Please join The Mennello Museum of American Art in celebration of the opening of The Beautiful
Mysterious: The Extraordinary Gaze of William Eggleston
The City of Orlando, Friends of The Mennello Museum of American Art, The Mennello Museum Board
of Trustees together with Executive Director, Shannon Fitzgerald, invite you for an evening
celebrating the work of the incredibly talented artists in our community.
Preview & Opening Reception
Friday, June 23
Members-only Preview
5:30–6:30 p.m.
Public Opening Reception
Free for members | $5 for visitors
6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Visitors can purchase tickets online at http://squ.re/2qhbksD
PLEASE NOTE THE BELOW REQUIRED CREDITS FOR IMAGES:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/14vb82ffl9ok3l4/AADxaLQgX9GLsts-HBgNSY5xa?dl=0
William Eggleston, Untitled, 1973, color photograph.
Collection of the University of Mississippi Museum and Historic Houses, gift of Dr. William R. Ferris.
William Eggleston, Untitled, c. 1971, color photograph.
THE MENNELLO MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART IS OWNED AND OPERATED BY THE CITY OF ORLANDO.
900 E. PRINCETON STREET ● ORLANDO, FL 32803 ● 407.246.4278 ● FAX: 407.246.4329 ● WWW.MENNELLOMUSEUM.ORG
Collection of the University of Mississippi Museum and Historic Houses, gift of Dr. William R. Ferris.
William Eggleston, Untitled, 1971, color photograph.
Collection of the University of Mississippi Museum and Historic Houses, gift of Dr. William R. Ferris.
William Eggleston, Untitled, 1977, taken in 1976, color photograph.
Collection of the University of Mississippi Museum and Historic Houses, gift of Dr. William R. Ferris.
About the Musuem
The Mennello Museum of American Art, established in November 1998, is owned and operated by
the City of Orlando. This intimate cultural gem located in Loch Haven Cultural Park, is just minutes
from downtown Orlando, and is housed in what was once the private home of Howard Phillips, son of
local philanthropist Dr. P. Phillips. Among the Mennello Museum’s many treasures is the
permanent collection of paintings by self-taught artist Earl Cunningham (1893-1977), which was
generously donated from the collection of Michael A. Mennello and Marilyn Logsdon Mennello.
On view now through June 18, OUR ORLANDO and AMERICAN YOUTH: OUR IDENTITY. OUR
ORLANDO presents the work of five rising local artists who have shaped the visual fabric of The City
Beautiful through art. Supporting and fostering the creativity of Orlando’s talented teen
artists, AMERICAN YOUTH: OUR IDENTITY aspires to empower rising high school artists
throughout Orlando, providing a space for engagement and conversations about their art. More
information: http://www.mennellomuseum.org/our-orlando-american-youth/
The Mennello Museum is located at 900 E. Princeton Street, Orlando, FL 32803.
mennellomuseum.org  facebook.com/mennellomuseum
instagram.com/mennellomuseum  twitter.com/mennellomuseum
THE MENNELLO MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART IS OWNED AND OPERATED BY THE CITY OF ORLANDO.
900 E. PRINCETON STREET ● ORLANDO, FL 32803 ● 407.246.4278 ● FAX: 407.246.4329 ● WWW.MENNELLOMUSEUM.ORG
The Mennello Museum of American Art is generously supported by the City of Orlando and Friends of The Mennello
Museum of American Art. Additional funding is provided by Orange County Government through the Arts & Cultural
Affairs Program and United Arts of Central Florida.
THE MENNELLO MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART IS OWNED AND OPERATED BY THE CITY OF ORLANDO.
900 E. PRINCETON STREET ● ORLANDO, FL 32803 ● 407.246.4278 ● FAX: 407.246.4329 ● WWW.MENNELLOMUSEUM.ORG