A pioneer of colour photography as a fine art, William Eggleston brought the saturated hues of dye-transfer printing to the everyday: supermarket car parks, living rooms, road verges and neon-lit corners of the American South. His 1976 MoMA exhibition and the accompanying book William Eggleston’s Guide marked a watershed moment, establishing colour’s legitimacy in art photography.
Eggleston’s pictures are formally acute yet deceptively casual, finding lyricism in the banal and intensity in small details—spilled light, a red ceiling, a tricycle looming large. His influence runs through contemporary photography and cinema alike, shaping how we see—and take seriously—the visual poetry of ordinary life.