The negatives for what became known as the Los Alamos Project were made between 1965–1974, and were archived in two boxes labeled Box #17 and Box #83. In the nineties the boxes were transported from Memphis to New York, where William Eggleston, Walter Hopps, Caldecot Chubb and Winston Eggleston edited the photographs into a set of five portfolio boxes containing dye transfer prints, which were produced in an edition of five with three sets of artist proofs. In addition to this, thirteen images which hadn’t made it into the portfolios were printed and released as individually available dye-transfer prints, which were referred to as the “cousins” of the Los Alamos Project. Walter Hopps original vision was to make an exhibition of the Los Alamos Project, but plans for the exhibition fell through and the idea was abandoned. Hopps carefully packed and sent Box #17 back to Memphis, but forgot to return Box #83. For years, these negatives were lost. After Hopps’ death his widow found Box #83 in his office and it was returned to the Eggleston Artistic Trust. All of the negatives in Box #83 had been reviewed numbered and ordered by Hopps, and later on they had been documented in a hand made book called Lost and Found Los Alamos. Towards the end of 2011, William Eggleston III (son of William) and Marc Holborn came together to review the nowcomplete set of negatives for a final edit. In early 2012 they finished their work and their edit forms the base for this threevolume set titled Los Alamos Revisited. The sequence of Los Alamos Revisited has been composed by Thomas Weski, who in 2002, together with the publisher Walter Keller edited the Scalo book Los Alamos. The edit for the Scalo edition had been made from the five portfolio boxes – Los Alamos Revisited brings together the complete set of photographs, including the long lost negatives: Box #83. William Eggleston was born in 1939 in Memphis, where he still lives and works. Steidl has published Eggleston’s Paris (2009), Before Color (2010) and Chromes (2011).
Perlentaucher-Notiz zur Süddeutsche Zeitung-Rezension
Zwischen 1966 und 1974 war der Fotograf William Eggleston kreuz und quer durch Amerika gefahren und hatte fotografiert, was ihm gefiel. Die Mischung ist bunt, erklärt ein hingerissener Georg Imdahl: Ein Mopp, der an einem Gartenzaun lehnt, betagte Limousinen oder Pfützen: alles konnte Egglestons "demokratischen" - wie er das selbst nannte - Blick auf sich ziehen. Für den Rezensenten scheinen die Dinge seltsam lebendig zu werden. Man sieht "ihre Geschichte, ihre Vergänglichkeit" und das macht sie für ihn schön. Die Fotografien, die selbst Eggleston vergessen hatte, wurden 2003 nach langer Zeit im Kölner Ludwig Museum ausgestellt. Jetzt kann man sie auch in einer dreibändigen Buchausgabe bewundern, die Imdahl wärmstens empfiehlt.
© Perlentaucher Medien GmbH
© Perlentaucher Medien GmbH