Prints will be auctioned on May 15th
A portfolio of eleven dye-transfer color photographs, shot by William Eggleston in 1983, of Elvis Presley’s home Graceland will be up for auction on Sunday, May 15th. The images are part of Santa Monica Auctions’ Live Public Fine Art Auction of Modern & Contemporary Works.
The work was commissioned by the Presley estate a year after Graceland opened to the public and six years after the death of Elvis Presley. Eggleston’s approach to photography may seem like an unlikely choice but his status as a native of Memphis and his deep connections to the Memphis music scene (he was also a musician) made him a natural for the project.
The stunning color photographs are printed using the dye-transfer method, a craft-printing process that allows tremendous control over color relations and intensity. Considered a true innovator and master of the color dye-transfer technique, Eggleston achieved fame when the Museum of Modern Art gave him its first major one-man exhibition of color photography in 1976. Published by Middendorf Gallery, the portfolio is part of an edition of thirty-one. The estimated price is $250,000-350,000.
This lot and approximately 200 others can be previewed now at Santa Monica Auctions in gallery space A-5 at Bergamot Station Arts Center, 2525 Michigan Ave, Santa Monica, CA 90404. Gallery hours are from 11 am-6 pm Tuesday through Saturday. The auction begins at 1 pm on Sunday, May 15th and continues through the afternoon.
Bidding will also be available online.
