Exceptional Works: William Eggleston

A detail from an untitled work by William Eggleston, dated 1973, with text overlay reading "Exceptional Works: William Eggleston, Untitled, 1973, Dye transfer print. Print: 20x30 inches, 50.8x76.2 cm.
"Anyone who knows Eggleston’s work knows that he’s a great poet of the color red."

Donna Tartt

An untitled dye transfer print by William Eggleston, dated 1973.

William Eggleston

Untitled, 1973
Dye transfer print
Print: 20 x 30 inches (50.8 x 76.2 cm)
Framed: 26 7/8 x 36 inches (68.3 x 91.4 cm)

Ahead of William Eggleston: The Outlands, a solo exhibition opening in November at our New York gallery, we’re delighted to present Untitled (1973), an iconic work by the celebrated American artist. Known unofficially as “The Red Ceiling,” this early photograph is considered by Eggleston to be one of his most important works, and was the image that sparked his groundbreaking solo exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art in 1976.

A vivid dye-transfer print—and one of the first photographs Eggleston originally produced in this medium—this work reflects the artist’s intentions to the highest degree. While other editions are included in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, among others, this print is the largest to have been made in this uniquely impactful medium.

William Eggleston seated on bench

William Eggleston, Untitled, c. 1970 (detail)

William Eggleston, Untitled, c. 1970 (detail)

Developed by Kodak in the 1920s and originally used for magazine and advertising copy, the dyes used in the dye-transfer process are extremely pure, and possess a wider color range and tonal scale than any other process.

“[Eggleston] admired the ‘overwhelming’ vibrancy of certain cigarette ads and Hitchcock films,” Will Stephenson writes, “and saw no reason why he couldn’t incorporate that same textured color into his own work.”

Malboro ad

A 1960s magazine advertisement advertising Marlboro cigarettes.

A 1960s magazine advertisement advertising Marlboro cigarettes.

An Eastman Kodak Dye Transfer brochure

An Eastman Kodak Dye Transfer brochure

An Eastman Kodak Dye Transfer brochure

To create a dye-transfer print, an image is transferred to three film matrices, forming  photographic relief images for each of the three dyes used in the process. Each of the matrices is then immersed in a dye bath of cyan, magenta, and yellow, respectively, a gelatin holding the dye. Each film is then hand pressed onto a specific kind of fiber paper that is receptive to the dye in a process that is, in some ways, more like traditional printmaking. The result is a richness and depth of color that is not replicable by other analog or digital print processes. In 1994, Kodak discontinued the chemicals and the pan matrix film needed for the process, making dye transfer prints a rare medium.

Spread from Democratic Camera Whitney catalogue

William Eggleston, Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, exhibition publication, 2002 (left); Spread from William Eggleston: Democratic Camera, Photographs and Video, 1961–2008, The Whitney Museum of American Art, exhibition publication, 2008 (right)

William Eggleston, Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, exhibition publication, 2002 (left); Spread from William Eggleston: Democratic Camera, Photographs and Video, 1961–2008, The Whitney Museum of American Art, exhibition publication, 2008 (right)

“When you look at a dye-transfer print it’s like it’s red blood that is wet on the wall. . . . It shocks you every time.”

—William Eggleston

Installation view of a William Eggleston exhibition in Louisiana, 1992

Installation view, William Eggleston: Ancient and Modern, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark, 1992

Installation view, William Eggleston: Ancient and Modern, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark, 1992

Installation view of a William Eggleston exhibition in Moma, New York, 1976

Installation view, Color Photographs by William Eggleston, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1976

Installation view, Color Photographs by William Eggleston, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1976

An installation view from an exhibition titled William Eggleston and the Color Tradition at the J. Paul Getty Museum in 1999.

Installation view, William Eggleston and the Color Tradition, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 1999. Image courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Museum. © 2022 J. Paul Getty Trust

Installation view, William Eggleston and the Color Tradition, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 1999. Image courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Museum. © 2022 J. Paul Getty Trust

The photograph was taken in Greenwood, Mississippi, in the guest room of the home of T.C. Boring, a close friend of Eggleston’s. Upon first printing the image as a dye transfer, Eggleston was so pleased with the results that he immediately sent a print to John Szarkowski, the legendary photography director at The Museum of Modern Art, who recognized its unusual power. Soon afterwards, Szarkowski gave Eggleston his groundbreaking 1976 solo exhibition at the museum.

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William Eggleston, Untitled (The photographer with T. C. Boring, Greenwood, Mississippi), c. 1974 (detail)

William Eggleston, Untitled (The photographer with T. C. Boring, Greenwood, Mississippi), c. 1974 (detail)

Boring, and the eccentric environment of his home, feature in a number of important works by Eggleston. Here, the artist recalls the day the photograph of the red ceiling was taken:

“Brenda and T.C. and I were the three people who were lying in bed when I took that picture. . . . We were just having a nice time, talking about this and that, talking about nonsense. . . . And I remember one split second I looked up. I thought, that’s a great picture. And then I took the picture.”

Spread featuring a photo by William Eggleston, titled Greenwood, Mississippi, c. 1972 (left); and an Untitled, photo by William Eggleston, c. 1969-1974 (right).

William Eggleston, Greenwood, Mississippi, c. 1972 (left); William Eggleston, Untitled, c. 1969-1974 (right). This work is featured in the upcoming exhibition William Eggleston: The Outlands at David Zwirner New York

William Eggleston, Greenwood, Mississippi, c. 1972 (left); William Eggleston, Untitled, c. 1969-1974 (right). This work is featured in the upcoming exhibition William Eggleston: The Outlands at David Zwirner New York

“In the photograph of the ceiling . . . which skews your vision unusually upward in the room, as if you were seeing with the eye of a fly drawn to the swelling lightbulb . . . color reinforces the visual structure’s reference to the Confederate flag—metaphorically a field of blood.”

Mark Holborn

Cover of an album by Big Star titled Radio City, featuring an untitled photograph by William Eggleston titled, dated 1974

Radio City Big Star, album cover, 1974

Radio City Big Star, album cover, 1974

In 1974, this work became the cover of the album Radio City by Big Star. One of Eggleston's most emblematic works, the red ceiling has continued to influence popular culture, including the films of David Lynch and Stanley Kubrick.

“The red was unreal, or hyperreal—it seemed to drip from the print, as if the paint would smudge if touched. The picture was both conventionally beautiful and somehow aberrant, a duality Eggleston acknowledged.”

—Will Stephenson

A still from David Lynch's film Lost Highway, 1997

David Lynch, Lost Highway, 1974 (film still)

David Lynch, Lost Highway, 1974 (film still)

Still from Stanley Kubrick's film The Shining, 1980

Stanley Kubrick, The Shining, 1980 (film still)

Stanley Kubrick, The Shining, 1980 (film still)

William Eggleston with David Lynch at Fondation Cartier, 2007

William Eggleston (left) and David Lynch, Paris, 2007

William Eggleston (left) and David Lynch, Paris, 2007

Still from Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968

Stanley Kubrick, 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968 (film still)

Stanley Kubrick, 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968 (film still)

Installation view of a William Eggleston in Paris

Installation view, William Eggleston: Paris, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, 2009

Installation view, William Eggleston: Paris, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, 2009

“Still photography for me grew out of filmmaking: you see this thing through the lens and you just get filled with euphoria. It’s an amazing art form: I especially love William Eggleston.”

—David Lynch

An untitled dye transfer print by William Eggleston, dated 1973.
“Red, I find, always seems to bite every other color.”

—William Eggleston

Inquire about Works by Willam Eggleston

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