Customer Reviews

William Eggleston, 2 1/4

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4 star:		(3)
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I've looked at thousands of photo books in my life and this is one of my personal favorites. Why? It isn't, for the most part, because of the subject matter. Eggleston's images are pretty banal -- common everyday objects that we routinely ignore. I like this book because it shows an undisputed master dealing simultaneously with two photographic problems -- color and a square image format. Even if you don't agree with Szarkowski's assertion that Eggleston was the first photographer to actually see in color (in contrast to the emphasis upon form and texture that characterizes black and white photography), there is no disputing the originality of his vision and the influence that it has had on subsequent generations of photographers. The images in this book, from early in his career, beautifully display that vision. But, unlike any of his other photographs, the ones in this book are square. Most photographs are reproduced in rectangular format, providing them with a natural visual tension. Faced with a square format, many photographers opt for symmetry as a compositional strategy. Not Eggleston -- he uses color to create disproportionate visual weights and add a visual dynamic to the images. For a nice contrast, compare the images in this book to those in Larry Fink's Social Graces (black and white photos in the 2 1/4 format) to appreciate the difference between using color (Eggleston) and non-symmetric form (Fink) to get rid of the structural monotony of the square image format. Finally, this book is an absolute delight to hold. The pages and cover, as with most other Twin Palms books, provide tactile pleasures a quantum leap beyond those in 98% of other books.

I've viewed this book side by side with the Hasselblad Award Book, and I find the quality of the printing in 2 1/4 to be inferior to that in the Hasselblad volume. I think the selection of the photos is excellent, but the reproductions in this particular book are somewhat washed out. With an artist such as Eggleston,the color printing process is essential to communicating his vision. I found the quality of the printing in this book to be a disservice to his art.

This is a beautiful book, and those familiar with the photographer's work over the years will recognize his visual flair for color and love of the mystery in commonplace objects. In response to the previous reviewer, who was disappointed with the quality of image reproduction, I think the problem lies in the aging of the source negatives and/or transparencies...the sad but inevitable changes wrought by time. Twin Palms has done a fine job with this volume of early work by a master photogarapher.

William Eggleston 2 1/4 presents full-page color photos of signs and contemporary urban images. His captures the stark realities of life and modern society and presents a fine hosting of modern photo forms.

I own a first edition of this book and it is printed a little bit better than the 3rd edition. That's the only other printing I've seen. Maybe this new edition improves on the printing.

Either way, it's a beautiful collection of work.

Lush, four-color imagery from William Eggleston in an oversized hardcover book. This is prime Eggleston that shouldn't be missed.

I'll make this short. This is a beautiful book, with a major exception. The basic features/layout of the book: the traditional left-page blank, right-page image that most photo books have, no page numbers, captions, or image titles on any of the pages. The binding is first-rate, the fabric cover is lovely, the first and last pages of the book are protective heavy paper fabric. The pages of the book are heavy and rough. There is no dust jacket. The book arrives shrink-wrapped to keep it clean. You may want to make your own just jacket.

This book just has one major problem - the images. The color is good and they are printed well but there are obvious 'scan lines' like the images were scanned from prints (maybe) but they were scanned at poor resolution or something. You don't have to be a 'pixel peeper' or anything to see them either. Some images are more obvious than others because they may have more space where the tone is consistent and so they are noticeable. Even still, this is a nice book and the price is nice. I bought this along with Stephen Shore's Uncommon Places which was done by Aperture and it is a better book when it comes to the printing of the actual images. I intend to write Twin Palms about the issue. The book was manufactured in Korea. It is a high-quality book in the materials and construction but the actual image printing is it's downfall. This particular edition is the 4th. Perhaps previous editions were better.

It seems like I'm riding this book pretty hard and I guess I am. However I still recommend this book and am glad I have it. It really should have a dust jacket however. To do so much on the build quality of the book and then screw up the printing is a little mystifying.

I love Eggleston's photos because I have lived in the mid-south area during the period in which the pictures were taken. Great book.