William Christenberry
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
William Christenberry is an artist from the same part of Alabama made famous by Walker Evan’s photographs in “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men”. This book is a retrospective of his life’s work from 1960′s. It includes his photographs, sculptures (many of which look like models), and paintings. I was most interested in the photographs. To me the paintings are interesting because they’re presented in the context of other work: it’s interesting to see an artist explore the same subject in different media.
While Christenberry is best known for his color work, his early tiny black and white Brownie photos (reproduced here in actual size) are also impressive. They’re reminiscent of photographs by Walker Evans or David Plowden, and definitely prove that art is not limited by equipment.
Also interesting are series of the same rural church, residence, or store taken annually over decades.
The book contains several good essays by Andy Grundberg, Howard N. Fox, and curator Walter Hopps, who points out that Christenberry’s color work may have inspired William Eggleston but that Christenberry’s focus on rebirth and continuity stands in contrast to Eggleston’s “violence and destructiveness”.
