rich and poor. In part due to the influence of the
Civil Rights movement but also as a means of
grappling with his more personal experiences as a
Southerner, Christenberry began to look at the
Ku Klux Klan in Hale County and use its rheto-
ric of hate and violence as a means of offering a
white man’s critique of Southern racism. In 1963,
he began making sculptures of Klan figures from
G.I. Joe action figures who wore the sumptu-
ously colored satin robes of their group. The
dolls were often situated in pairs or groups
within built architectural tableaux, and then
photographed. Over 40 years later, the sculptures
have become part of an ongoing installation
comprising over 300 objects and images. Cogni-
zant of the discomfort with which many viewers
and even his fellow artists have viewed this body
of work, Christenberry insists that The Klan
Roomis a vital part of his oeuvre, stating that
‘‘there are times when an artist must examine
and reveal such strange and secret brutality’’
(Christenberry quoted in Stack 1996).
As a consummate photographer of the South—
Christenberry has never photographed in Wash-
ington, D.C., where he has lived since 1968—he
shares with his peers William Eggleston, Emmet
Gowin, and others the desire to capture the essence
of a culture as he both recognizes and yet trans-
cends its stereotypes. Christenberry is both a part of
and a critic of the tradition, the landscape, and
the culture of the South, its myths and realities.
Although often associated with a regionalist perspec-
tive (sometimes pejoratively) Christenberry’s photo-
graphy succeeds in finding the universal within a
highly personal language of symbols and signs.
LynnM. Somers-DavisSeealso: Brownie; Documentary Photography;
Eggleston, William; Evans, Walker; Gowin, Emmet;
Photography in the United States: the South
Biography
Born November 5, 1936 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Earned
MA, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama,
1959; BA, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Ala-
bama, 1958. Traveled to New York City for the first
time, 1958–59 where he saw Abstract Expressionist
work; moved to New York, 1961; left to teach in Mem-
phis one year later. Married Sandra Deane, August 19,
1967; the couple moved from Memphis to Washington,
D.C., 1968. That same year began annual sojourns to
Hale County, Alabama and its environs (for the next
three decades) inspired by the work and friendship of
Walker Evans. Had first solo show in New York’s Zab-
riskie Gallery of photography and sculpture, 1976; first
solo show in Washington, D.C. at Sander Gallery, 1977.
Associate and then Professor of Art, The Corcoran
School of Art, Washington, D.C., 1968 to present; Assis-
tant and then Associate Professor of Art, Memphis State
University, Memphis, Tennessee, 1962–68; Instructor of
Art, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama,
1959–61. Selected awards and honors include: Doctor
of Humane Letters (Honorary), University of Alabama,
Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 1998; The University of Memphis
Distinguished Achievement Award in Memory of Elvis
Presley, Memphis, Tennessee, 1996; Art Matters Grant,
New York, New York, 1994; Educator of the Year,
Society for Photographic Education, 1995; Yale Univer-
sity Summer School of Art and Music, Visiting Artist,
Norfolk, Connecticut, 1993; Yale University Summer
School of Art and Music, Visiting Artist, Norfolk, Con-
necticut, 1991; Eudora Welty Professor of Southern Stu-
dies, Millsaps College, Jackson, Mississippi, 1991; The
Alabama Prize, Alabama, 1989; John Simon Guggen-
heim Memorial Fellowship, 1984.Individual Exhibitions
1961 University of Alabama Gallery of Art; Tuscaloosa,
Alabama
1963 Memphis State University Gallery of Art; Memphis,
Tennessee
1967 Mary Chilton Gallery; Memphis, Tennessee
1972 University of Maryland; Baltimore County, Maryland
1973 The Corcoran Gallery of Art; Washington, D.C.
The Baltimore Museum of Art; Baltimore, Maryland
Photographs by William Christenberry; The Octagon
House, American Institute of Architects; Washington,
D.C.
1979 The Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts; Montgom-
ery, Alabama
The Corcoran Gallery of Art; Washington, D.C.
1982 Atlanta Gallery of Photography; Atlanta, Georgia
1983 William Christenberry, Southern Views; The Corcoran
Gallery of Art; Washington, D.C.
Southern Views; Huntsville Museum of Art; Hunts-
ville, Alabama
1987 William Christenberry, Photographs and Sculpture;
Southwest Craft Center; San Antonio, Texas
William Christenberry, Southern Monuments, North-
light; Arizona State University; Tempe, Arizona
1989 The Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts; Montgom-
ery, Alabama
1990 Southern Exposure; Cranbrook Academy of Arts
Museum; Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
1990 Dream Buildings and Other New Work; Middendorf
Gallery; Washington, D.C.
William Christenberry; Center for Cultural Arts;
Gadsden, Alabama
1991 Thirty by Forty Photographs; Middendorf Gallery;
Washington, D.C.
William Christenberry, Southern Views, Galveston
Arts Center, Galveston, Texas
1995 Pace/MacGill Gallery; New York
1996 Christenberry: Reconstruction; Center for Creative
Photography; Tucson, Arizona and the University of
Arizona Museum of Art; Contemporary Arts Center,
New Orleans, Louisiana
William Christenberry, The Early Years, 1954–1968;
Morris Museum of Art; Augusta, GeorgiaCHRISTENBERRY, WILLIAM