Eggleston Lawsuit Dismissed

All work by William Eggkleston

Remember this lawsuit I blogged about on here almost a year ago? [Link]. It was dismissed on the grounds that the new prints were done with a different printing method, basically digital as opposed to the dye transfers that Sobel owned.

 Judge Deborah Batts, of the of the US District Court in the Southern District of New York, opined: "Although both the Limited Edition works and the Subsequent Edition works were produced from the same images, they are markedly different."



This leaves out the issue of size from the decision, though there is nothing new here. Artists have used any new technology to make bigger prints for a long time.

William Eggleston, Untitled.

Maude Schuyler Clay, William Eggleston

Collector Sobel is said to own 190+ Eggleston prints, perhaps the greatest private collection of the artist's work. In the interest of fairness, Sobel's side, in his own words, can be read here [Link].


Eggleston remains one of the great living photographers of our time.

On the left is a portrait of William Eggleston taken by his aunt, Maude Schuyler Clay. She is also a distinguished photographer whose work appears regularly in the NYTimes Sunday magazine.

One thing I disagree with Sobel on is that in the near future his works will be devalued. If I had the money, I would buy Eggleston prints at this time, and as high-priced as they seem to be, they will be higher still in the near future.

--- Luis