RE: [Leica] Eggleston: art photography

["Lee, Ken" <ken.lee@hbc.com>]

John,

Please forgive me if this sounds argumentative, I don't mean it that way.  I
often wonder about art, because whether painting, sculpture or photography
most of the time I don't get it. I had never heard of Eggleston before this
thread, so I checked out the site from the URL. What makes any of these
photos anything more than very poor snapshots other than a great PR person?
What makes a figure of a woman clothed in rotting meat art? What makes most
modern paintings art? For some of the more well know artists, I sort of
accept that it must be art, and something must be wrong with me because I
just don't get it. For the rest I just scratch my head.

A very confused Ken

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	John Collier [SMTP:jbcollier@home.com]
> Sent:	Tuesday, February 15, 2000 1:37 PM
> To:	leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> Subject:	Re: [Leica] Eggleston: art photography
> 
> Why indeed. It is a very good question that is difficult to answer. Your
> work that you have shown us is very socially driven with strong
> emotionally
> charged meanings. You cloak your subjects, even though you are trying to
> illustrate their potential need, with dignity and humanity. I connect to
> the
> message because I think you are picturing me, my son , my daughter, or my
> life I guess. This type of work is at polar opposites to the work that you
> are having trouble seeing value in. It reminds me of the "relief" or
> "field"
> * style of painting that so enrages the public when museums purchase these
> historically important pieces for millions of dollars. A framed field of
> blue is not that difficult to bang off in a lazy afternoon with lots of
> time
> to spare for catching the early show as well. That, however, is not how
> they
> were made. They were made to make statements that can only be interpreted
> though the filter of that time (which of course is also why it lasted only
> a
> short time) and created a sensation when they first came out. I look
> forward
> to the time, probably not soon, when your work will be looked at with
> puzzled expressions as poverty will be unknown and incomprehensible. One
> can
> hope. Why not go to your local library and take out a few books on art
> history and the history of photography, it is very interesting and helps
> one
> to at least understand photographers like Eggleston if not appreciate
> them.
> 
> John Collier
> 
> *Please note I am not an art historian and my have some of my terms mixed
> up.
> 
>