William Eggleston Portraits at The National Portrait Gallery

I've been a long-time admirer of William Eggleston's photography. His use of the now obsolete dye-transfer printing technique produced beautifully vivid and strange colour combinations. His documentary photography style has a filmic quality which I find compelling and I become absorbed into the story that the image is telling.

This exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery brought together some of his portraits taken over the last few decades. Some of his early portraits were shot using a grainy black and white police surveillance film that Eggleston appropriated for use in his own camera. The vast majority of photos however, were in colour, and included some of his most iconic photographs like the one below of his then girlfriend, Marcia Hare, taken circa 1975. This image highlights Eggleston's clever use of focus - only Marcia Hare's face, left arm and camera are in focus, making her seem as if floating in a dreamscape.

I enjoyed the exhibition, but lamented the fact that it was so small - the whole exhibition space took up two relatively small rooms next to the large exhibition space then occupied by Picasso's portraits. There were many other great portraits by William Eggleston that were not shown in this exhibition. It felt as if photographic portraits were not taken as seriously by the gallery as much as artist's portraits.

References:

William Eggleston Portraits (2016) [Exhibition]. National Portrait Gallery, London. 21 July - 23 October 2016.

Eggleston, W. (1974) Untitled (Walter Hopps). Available at: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/67/68/13/676813e646c3a41c211651470e2cf0fa.jpg (Accessed: 28 October 2016).

Eggleston, W (c.1975) Untitled (Marcia Hare in Memphis Tennessee). Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/photography/2016/07/22/william-eggleston-lead-large_trans++rpfQw2hJyG_yckwxPAr0gqsW2GA9nAM4IFtGNFTInME.jpg (Accessed: 28 October 2016)