Place, Time, and Memory
William Christenberry, Corcoran College of Art and
Design
Overview:
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In this abridged version of an
illustrated lecture given at Emory University on February 26, 2007,
artist William Christenberry introduces major themes in his work
and presents examples from more than forty years of photography,
drawing, painting, and sculpture centered upon his home state of
Alabama.
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Presentation Sections:
Video:
| Part 1 (10:33 min.)
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Christenberry talks about "coming
to grips" with his feelings for the Alabama landscape in his earliest
work from the 1960s. Discussion of paintings and Brownie snapshots
focused on Hale County. The translation of Sprott Church from photograph
to sculpture. Narrative of "The Klub." |
| Part 2 (7:18 min.)
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Discussion of works from the 1970s and later
that reveal the passage of time and the workings of nature upon
buildings and landscapes. Also: "Alabama Wall," "Red
Building in Forest," "Horses and Black Buildings," "Green
Warehouse." "Gourd
Tree" drawings. Southern Monuments series. |
| Part 3 (9:15 min.)
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Origins and intentions of Christenberry's "Klan
Tableau." Examples of drawings, photographs, dolls, buildings,
and environments dealing with the Klan material. The creation of
"Dream Buildings." Recent sculptures approaching the subject
of memory. |
About William Christenberry:
Born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on November 5, 1936, William Christenberry is a
painter, photographer, and sculptor whose work draws upon the subject matter
of Alabama —from gourd trees, landscapes, vernacular buildings, and red
dirt to the terror of the Ku Klux Klan — to create art that speaks to
such broad themes as the depopulation of the rural landscape, the effects of
time's passage
upon the material world, the hubris of monumentality, and the fatal attractions
of evil. A graduate of the University of Alabama, Christenberry has lived in
Washington, DC, since 1968, teaching drawing and painting at the Corcoran College
of Art and Design. An enormously productive and prolific artist, his work is
widely exhibited and collected by major museums and galleries in the U.S and
in Europe.
Presentation Sections:
