Eggleston Red Ceiling

A little red is usually enough but to work with an entire surface was a challenge.

Eggleston red ceiling. The process meant as eggleston has said it doesn t look at all like the scene which in some cases is what you want in relation to his photograph greenwood mississippi 1973 top showing a cross of white cables leading to the central lightbulb on a red ceiling in his friend s guestroom he noted when you look at the dye it is like red blood that s wet on the wall. The red ceiling untitled 1973 sean o hagan meets william eggleston he s a softly spoken gentleman from the deep south with a taste for bourbon and antique guns and a reputation as a hellraiser. It was hard to do.

It is also known as greenwood mississippi 1973 after the location and year it was taken. Slightly left of center is a light fixture with a bare bulb and three white cables stapled to the ceiling leading out towards the walls. Before he started working with it the method was associated largely with advertisements national geographic and technicolor movies.

American life through the eyes of a color photography pioneer arguably eggleston s most famous photograph is of a bare exposed lightbulb against a red ceiling the vibrant cherry hue heightened. I don t know of any totally red pictures except in advertising. The red ceiling is also known as mississippi 1973 in honor of where it was taken and the year.

Before he started working with it the method was associated largely with advertisements national geographic and technicolor movies. Titled greenwood mississippi 1973 but better known as the red ceiling it became one of the many works that secured eggleston s legacy as a great poet of the color red as author donna tartt once penned in artforum. The viewer gets a retro perspective at first glance without any information.

The photograph is still powerful. The red ceiling 1973 as the picture of the light bulb is often called it has no official title was one of the very earliest photographs william eggleston printed using the dye transfer process. He s also the photographer whose extraordinary ability to find beauty in the banal has transformed the way we look at the world.

The red ceiling is the title of a photograph by william eggleston. A dye transfer print measuring 13 7 8 by 21 11 16 inches 35 2 by 55 1 cm eggleston considers it among his most challenging and powerful works so powerful that in fact i ve never seen it reproduced on the page to my satisfaction. The red ceiling as the picture of the light bulb is often called it has no official title was one of the very earliest photographs eggleston printed using the dye transfer process.