I can remember the first time that I saw a piece of William Christenberry’s work. It actually was not a photograph but a model of a ramshackle building. Really what caught my eye was the name of the piece, Coleman’s Cafe. You see Coleman is my Dad’s name so I was naturally attracted to it. In fact, Coleman was with me in the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. As I looked around I noticed some of his photographs and really related to all of it. Christenberry is after all one of the South’s premiere photographers.
Christe
nberry’s new book, Kodachromes, is the first publication to show this particular body of work. It encompasses work made with 35 mm Kodachrome slide film during the years of 1964- 2007. Of these images of the Rural Deep South, especially Hale County, Alabama, very few have been on exhibit or published.
Though there are some new locations that one hasn’t seen before, be rest assured that Christenberry’s icons are here in this book, Coleman’s Cafe, Sprott Church, and the Bar-B-Q Inn to name just a few. Even if you have some previous books of William Christenberry I really think that Kodachromes would be a wonderful addition to your collection.
William Christenberry: Kodachromes (Aperture, 2010)
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