Metropolitan Dystopia: Color Photographs of Mississippi, Tennessee, and Louisiana, 1968-2005 by Anna Kivlan Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Richard J. Powell, Supervisor ___________________________ Stanley Abe ___________________________ William R. Ferris ___________________________ Patricia Leighten ___________________________ Irene M. Silverblatt Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies in the Graduate School of Duke University 2014 ABSTRACT Metropolitan Dystopia: Color Photographs of Mississippi, Tennessee, and Louisiana, 1968-2005 by Anna Kivlan Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Richard J. Powell, Supervisor ___________________________ Stanley Abe ___________________________ William R. Ferris ___________________________ Patricia Leighten ___________________________ Irene M. Silverblatt An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies in the Graduate School of Duke University 2014 Copyright by Anna Kivlan 2014 Abstract This dissertation examines color photographs made in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee between 1968 and 2005 and their relation to evolving racial discourse. My discussion revolves around three photographers: William Eggleston, Birney Imes, and William K. Greiner, who make striking color photographs in the U.S. South. I discuss the critical reception of their work and place it within the context of political and cultural attitudes toward the region and issues of race expressed in the media in the 1970s-early 00's. The important role played by Museum of Modern Art [MoMA] curator John Szarkowski was central in shaping discussions about contemporary photography during this period, placing Eggleston as the herald of the color photography explosion. I explore changing attitudes toward artistic and documentary color photography among photographers, critics, and the general public leading into the 1970s, arguing that these attitudes influenced the reception of the often high-intensity color images of Eggleston, Imes, and Greiner, in the decades that followed. I discuss the critical reception of William Eggleston's 1976 photography exhibition at MoMA. I examine how Imes's color photographs of juke joints and roadhouses in Mississippi utilize the expressive potentials of color film to depict these liminal, public/private spaces as sites of boundary crossing in a racially divided culture. iv I explore the ways in which William K. Greiner uses color to depict the pre-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans metropolitan area. My contribution is to show how Eggleston, Imes, and Greiner employed the expressive, visceral potentials of color photography to interpret and navigate the uncertain moral terrain of the U.S South in the era following the passage of the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act. v Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... iv List of Figures ............................................................................................................................. vii 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 1 2. William Eggleston ................................................................................................................... 57 3. Birney Imes ............................................................................................................................ 175 4. William Greiner ..................................................................................................................... 273 5. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 342 Bibliography .............................................................................................................................. 351 Biography ................................................................................................................................... 363 Figures ........................................................................................................................................ 364 vi List of Figures Figure 1: .Book Cover. From William Eggleston’s Guide. New York: Museum of Modern Art; Cambridge, Mass, distributed by the MIT Press, 1976………………………….364 Figure 2: Untitled, n.d. From Los Alamos, 1965-1968 and 1972-74, in William Eggleston: Democratic Camera, Photographs and Video, 1961-2008. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art; Munich: Haus der Kunst, New Haven: Distributed by Yale University Press, 2008 .................................................................................................................................. 365 Figure 3: Birney Imes, The Royal Crown Café, Boyle, 1983. From Juke Joint: Photographs. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1990...................................................................... 366 Figure 4: William K. Greiner, HOPE Mausoleum, New Orleans, 2004. From The Reposed. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1999 .......................................................... 367 Figure 5: Stephen Shore, Stampeder Motel, Ontario, Oregon, 1973. ..................................... 368 Figure 6: William Eggleston, Greenwood, Missisippi. From William Eggleston’s Guide. New York: Museum of Modern Art; Cambridge, Mass., distributed by the MIT Press, 1976 ................................................................................................................................................... ..369 Figure 7: William Eggleston, Near the River at Greenville, Mississippi, from The Democratic Forest, 1989. ................................................................................................... ..370 Figure 8: William Eggleston, Sumner, Mississippi, Cassidy Bayou in background (white man with black servant). From William Eggleston’s Guide. New York: Museum of Modern Art; Cambridge, Mass., distirbuted by the MIT Press, 1976 ....................................................... 371 Figure 9: William Eggleston, Sumner, Mississippi. From William Eggleston’s Guide. New York: Museum of Modern Art; Cambridge, Mass., distributed by the MIT Press, 1976………………………………………………………………………………………….…372 Figure 10: Robert Adams, Mobile Homes, Jefferson County, Colorado, 1973 ......................... 373 Figure 11: Walker Evans, Negro Cabin in Hale County, Alabama, 1936. .............................. 374 Figure 12: William Eggleston, Greenwood, Mississippi, 1973 ................................................ 375 vii Figure 13: William Eggleston, Near Minter City and Glendora, Mississippi, in William Eggleston’s Guide, New York: Museum of Modern Art; Cambridge, Mass, distributed by the MIT Press, 1976. .................................................................................................................. 376 Figure 14: William Eggleston, Untitled. From Los Alamos. Zurich; New York: Scalo; New York City: Distributed in North America by DAP, 2003 ..................................................... 377 Figure 15: William Eggleston, Untitled. From Los Alamos. Zurich; New York: Scalo; New York City: Distributed in North America by DAP, 2003 .................................................... 378 Figure 16: William Eggleston, Untitled. From Los Alamos. Zurich; New York: Scalo; New York City: Distributed in North America by DAP, 2003 .................................................... 379 Figure 17: Stanley Forman, The Soiling of Old Glory, 1976 .................................................. 380 Figure 18: William Eggleston, Untitled, 1973 ........................................................................ 381 Figure 19: William Eggleston, Untitled, c. 1971-73. From from Troubled Waters, 1980 …. ..................................................................................................................................................... 382 Figure 20: William Eggleston, Tallahatchie County, Mississippi. From William Eggleston’s Guide. New York: Museum of Modern Art; Cambridge, Mass., distributed by the MIT Press, 1976 .................................................................................................................................. 383 Figure 21: William Eggleston, Untitled, 1975. William Eggleston Artistic Trust .............. 384 Figure 22: William Eggleston, Morton, Mississippi. From William Eggleston’s Guide. New York: Museum of Modern Art; Cambridge, Mass., distributed by the MIT Press .......... 385 Figure 23: William Eggleston, Jackson, Tennessee, in The Democratic Forest. New York: Doubleday, 1989. ....................................................................................................................... 386 Figure 24: Wiliam Eggleston, Untitled, 1983, from William Eggleston’s Graceland, 1983-84 ..................................................................................................................................................... 387 Figure 25: William Eggleston, Untitled, 1983. From William Eggleston’s Graceland, 1983-84