William Eggleston is one the pioneers of using color photography as art, especially at a time when it was not a norm. In fact, when his work was exhibited for the first in 1960 by curator John Szarkowski at The Museum of Modern Art, Ansel Adams condemned it. One of the reasons was his use of the dye-transfer print, which was considered beneath any serious photographer at the time. But, since then, things have changed, and Eggleston’s work still holds value. And now, a new photography exhibition will display his images as he had always printed, with a new set of dye-transfer prints.
All the images are screenshots from David Zwirner’s website.
Titled William Eggleston: The Last Dyes, the exhibition showcases images from his renowned series, Outlands, and Chromes series, as well as his images that were first shown by Szarkowski in the 1976 showcase. According to the press release, Egglestone handpicked the images for the exhibition with the help of his two sons, William and Winston. Today, in a time when print is not exactly the focus of many photographers, Eggleston’s work is the best way to observe and appreciate the American past in rich tones and colors.
I was reading the price list of this lab in Chicago and it advertised ‘from the cheapest to the ultimate print’. The ultimate print was a dye-transfer…. The color saturation and the quality of the ink was overwhelming. I couldn’t wait to see what a plain Eggleston picture would look like with the same process. Every photograph I subsequently printed with the process seemed … better than the previous one.’
William Eggleston
The dye-transfer printing method was first developed by Kodak in the 1940s, and it was aimed at commercial and fashion photographers who wanted to show the products and clothes in vivid detail. However, the process was quite arduous and challenging, and since it was largely for commercial use, many serious photographers turned away from it. In the 1960s, Eggleston found this method interesting, and he began to create his work using a rather labor-intensive process. But by the 1990s, Kodak stopped producing the chemicals and colours needed for this type of print. As a result, William Eggleston and printing specialists Guy Stricherz and Irene Malli slowly gathered the remaining stock, which is now being sued for the exhibition.
The process of making prints, at the time crucial for color, was something that always interested Eggleston. It was not until he discovered the dye transfer process in the late sixties that he gained control over color shading, and was able to impose a palette that came to be seen as the ‘Eggleston touch.’
—Agnès Sire, former director, Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson
The photographs on display will certainly draw you in. It is not just the colors but also the everyday and intimate beauty of the Southern United States that seems to have vanished, just like the printing process. Furthermore, the complex and intricate layers in his work, when seen the way he intends them to be seen, will make you appreciate him more. It is rare to see photographers like William Eggleston, and even rarer to come across those who have mastered the art of print. Furthermore, since the printing method is defunct, these are the last set of dye-transfer prints you will ever lay your eyes on.
Originally developed by Kodak in the 1940s for commercial and fashion photography, the dye-transfer process is a complex and labor-intensive method that produces highly saturated color prints. By the early 1990s, Kodak ceased production of the materials needed for the process, and Eggleston, along with printing specialists Guy Stricherz and Irene Malli, began acquiring the remaining stock to continue producing his iconic dye-transfer prints. The Last Dyes showcases the final prints created from these rare materials.
William Eggleston: The Last Dyes is on display at David Zwirner, Los Angeles from February 1. For more information, visit the gallery’s website.