Untitled (Near Rome, Mississippi)
Artist
William Eggleston
(American, born 1939)
Dateabout 1970
Mediumdye transfer print from color negative film
Dimensionsimage: 25 x 38.3 cm (9 13/16 x 15 1/16 in.)
sheet: 40.4 x 50.5 cm (15 7/8 x 19 7/8 in.)
sheet: 40.4 x 50.5 cm (15 7/8 x 19 7/8 in.)
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineStoddard Acquisition Fund
Object number1995.6
Label TextAmong the earliest adoptees of color photography, Sternfeld, Eggleston, and Shore documented American roadsides throughout the 1970s. Their bright, saturated hues suggest a connection to Pop artists like Rosalyn Drexler, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, and Tom Wesselmann. As a senior in high school, Shore found his way to Warhol’s studio. There he documented the goings-on at Warhol’s infamous Factory, an art space that became a hangout for celebrities, artists, hipsters, and socialites.
If Warhol serves as the de facto starting point for American Pop, Eggleston’s photograph of a weathered Wonder Bread billboard signals its end. The eye-catching reds, yellows, and blues on the billboard have surrendered to rust. The seductive and splashy branding Warhol emulated in his Campbell’s Soup Can series has eroded into the equally unattractive reality of economic depression.
ProvenanceLaurence Miller Gallery, New YorkOn View
Not on view
