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It is hard to imagine today that the artistic value of color photography was once questioned and controversial, until well into the eighties. William Eggleston’s groundbreaking first exhibition at the New York Museum of Modern Art in 1976 was fiercely debated; many of those who viewed his photographs found it difficult to assign the series depicting everyday life in the South the status of an artwork. Early works by Stephen Shore and Helen Levitt, for example, also met with similarly adverse reviews. But color photography’s triumphal march could not be halted: inspired by such pioneers, Jeff Wall, Rineke Dijkstra, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Nan Goldin, and many others concentrated in succeeding years on illustrating reality, depicting the banal and seemingly ephemeral with great truthfulness, making use of intense colors to express their emotions.

Starburst examines the influence of the first great names of artistic color photography in the United States on following generations. With breathtaking “high star density,” it portrays the entire range of this phase in the history of photography based on a stimulating selection of unique works.

By Kevin Moore, texts by James Crump, Leo Rubinfien, graphic design by hackenschuh com. design.