As a pioneer in the feld of color photography, William Christenberry’s photographs of dilapidated and obsolete architecture influenced a generation of photographers that followed including, most notably, William Eggleston. With a cool and objective aesthetic, and a particular focus on his hometown of Hale County, Alabama, Christenberry helped create a visual history of the changing southern landscape.

In the present lot, Christenberry photographed a single building in Greensboro, Alabama over a span of 37 years from 1964 to 2004. In doing so, his photographs show the evolution of the building’s architecture as well as its many occupants. His earliest image, taken in 1967, is titled Store, Greensboro, Alabama; from there, the same building becomes The Soul Wheel; The Shack; The Underground Night Club; Barry’s Place; and, finally, The Underground Railroad, the most recent incarnation that Christenberry documented.