The adoption of colour photography, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, by William Eggleston, Stephen Shore, and others was not without precedent: interesting work had already been done in this medium by numerous photographers, including Paul Outerbridge in the thirties, and Keld-Helmer Petersen in the forties. Nonetheless, perhaps because of its commercial associations, colour photography had been slow to find acceptance in the art world.

Eggleston's solo exhibition in 1976 had the distinction of being the first exhibition of colour photography at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. As such, it and this catalogue which accompanied it are often credited with legitimatising colour photography for the serious American museum-attending audience. Szarkowski noted Eggleston's 'ability to monumentalize the minutiae of mundane life' and boldly declared that 'as pictures, these seem to me to be perfect.' To which New York Times art critic Hilton Kramer responded, 'Perfect? Perfectly banal, perhaps. Perfectly boring, certainly.'

First edition; 8vo (228 × 228 mm, 9 x 9 in); colour photographs and a black-and-white portrait of Eggleston; blue endpapers, minor fading to edges, black leatherette-covered boards, spine and upper side lettered in gold, colour photographic reproduction mounted on upper side, light shelfwear, slightly cocked, an excellent copy; 110, [2]pp.

Regards sur un siècle de photographie à travers le livre 152; The Book of 101 Books: Seminal Photography Books of the Twentieth Century pp234-5; The Photobook: A History, II p265; The Open Book pp308-9; 802 photo books from the Auer Collection p598.