William Christenberry: Disappearing Places
by William Christenberry
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If Alabama-born artist William Christenberry regularly engages with the countryside of his home state, with the artlessness of the rural idyll, and the local architecture and its relationship to space, his multimedia installation, the so-called "Klan Room," takes this discourse one step further, deeper, and darker. The room, a continuously evolving work-in-progress consisting of a mass of sketches, paintings, sculptures, found objects, and photographs, addresses the subject of violent show more repression and racist persecution in the United States, and reveals Christenberry's critical reflection on myths and power symbols. Disappearing Places focuses as well on the artist's greater body of work, on his individual photographs, paintings, sculptures, and drawings, as well as his assemblages and material collages, which underline the poetic power of everyday found objects. show lessTags
Member Reviews
William Christenberry is a giant of contemporary American photography. Following the footsteps of Walker Evans and definitely akin to Stephen Shore and - especially - William Eggleston, he's a teller of the American South, with a deep focus on vernacular architecture and the passage of time. Also, his work contains a darker perspective on the criminal Klu Klux Klan movement, which obsessed Christenberry from his early photographic years. It should also be remembered that Christenberry isn't just a photographer: his sculpture, paintings and collected objects are as important as his own pictures.
The book is good and presents a comprehensive selection of C.'s work. Too bad the reproductions are very small. Considering that many of C.'s show more pictures are from large format negatives (as opposed to the early images captured with a Brownie camera), this is really a pity. The essays are good, even if a bit ripetitive. show less
The book is good and presents a comprehensive selection of C.'s work. Too bad the reproductions are very small. Considering that many of C.'s show more pictures are from large format negatives (as opposed to the early images captured with a Brownie camera), this is really a pity. The essays are good, even if a bit ripetitive. show less
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14+ Works 176 Members
William Andrew Christenberry Jr. was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on November 5, 1936. He studied painting and sculpture at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, receiving a B.F.A. in 1958 and an M.F.A. in 1959. He taught art at the Corcoran School of Art from 1968 to 2009. He created photographs, drawings, paintings, and sculptures about Hale show more County, Alabama, which is one of the poorest counties in the state. His work can be found in numerous public collections including those of the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of Art in New York, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and the Menil Collection in Houston. His autobiography, Working from Memory, published in 2008. He died from complications of Alzheimer's disease on November 28, 2016 at the age of 80. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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