Arts & Culture

A New Look at William Eggleston’s Southern Landscapes

In William Eggleston’s latest published collection, The Outlands, his two sons edited nearly one hundred never-before-seen photos for publication. Like their father—a Memphis native whose prolific career reimagined the power of color photography on a national stage—William Eggleston III and his brother, Winston Eggleston, found beauty in the ordinary and mundane. Together, the brothers processed more than five thousand Kodachrome slides taken between 1969 and 1974, dusting off images that had been untouched by their father for more than forty years. The pared-down result, The Outlands, compiled in a large-format paperback tome by David Zwirner Books, uncovers a nostalgic portrait of the South: a wood-paneled Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser on a dirt road; an amber iced tea at a cozy diner booth; a churchgoer in hot pink peering back at the camera behind her pew. “Dad has always positioned himself as an artist whose instrument is a camera,” writes William Eggleston III. “He took what was regarded as absolutely nothing, the ‘banal,’ and made something of it.”

By Gabriela Gomez-Misserian

March 29, 2023

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The Outlands documents Eggleston’s interest in Southern roadsides and structures, whether the shot shows an overgrown, abandoned building or an empty Mississippi drive-in against a stormy sky. “As Dad was working and walking, he was observing the encroaching suburban sprawl of Memphis,” writes William Eggleston III.

William Eggleston, Untitled, c. 1970-1973
© Eggleston Artistic Trust

Photo: Courtesy Eggleston Artistic Trust and David Zwirner

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At the funeral of blues musician Mississippi Fred McDowell, a parishioner catches the camera’s focus.

William Eggleston, Untitled, c. 1970-1973
© Eggleston Artistic Trust

Photo: Courtesy Eggleston Artistic Trust and David Zwirner

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A high-heeled foot steps out onto a chicken-flecked dirt road in Mississippi.

William Eggleston, Untitled, c. 1970-1973
© Eggleston Artistic Trust

Photo: Courtesy Eggleston Artistic Trust and David Zwirner

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Dramatic shadows and leading lines frame a glowing glass of iced tea in a Memphis diner.

William Eggleston, Untitled, c. 1970-1973
© Eggleston Artistic Trust

Photo: Courtesy Eggleston Artistic Trust and David Zwirner

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A cherry red float pops against the aqua surface of a pool in Mississippi. Eggleston’s use of color offers a unique specificity to common, simple moments: “You can leave a picture of his and see the world anew,” William Eggleston III writes. “The view takes over. It becomes your world.”

William Eggleston, Untitled, c. 1970-1973
© Eggleston Artistic Trust

Photo: Courtesy Eggleston Artistic Trust and David Zwirner

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In Memphis, sunlight catches details on a woman’s fur coat, heeled shoes, and chrome car against the dark, wet parking lot of a liquor store.

William Eggleston, Untitled, c. 1970-1973
© Eggleston Artistic Trust

Photo: Courtesy Eggleston Artistic Trust and David Zwirner

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Through rural backroads, Eggleston documented a tension between nature and manmade structures, like in this Memphis shot. The hard lines of a building pierce into the organic forms of fluffy clouds. “In many of the pictures, a responsive balance is struck between the developed yet degraded landscape and the unsullied and ever-changing sky,” the art scholar Robert Slifkin writes in his essay for The Outlands.

William Eggleston, Untitled, c. 1970-1973
© Eggleston Artistic Trust

Photo: Courtesy Eggleston Artistic Trust and David Zwirner

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William Eggleston: The Outlands: Selected Works.

William Eggleston, Untitled, c. 1970-1973
© Eggleston Artistic Trust

Photo: Courtesy Eggleston Artistic Trust and David Zwirner

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