1936-2016

William Christenberry was born the same year that Walker Evans and James Agee toured the South.  Almost thirty years later, Evans encouraged Christenberry to take his photographs seriously and not consider them simply as memory resources for his paintings.  Christenberry became a master chronicler of his time and place — southern barns, storefronts, churches and signage.  As a photographer, painter and sculptor, his work is personal and often reflects mythical themes.  A series of 18 photographs called Green Warehouse, Newbern, Alabama were made between 1973 and 2004.  He also memorialized that subject in a painting (1998) and sculpture (1978-79), documenting a building that has remained, miraculously, unchanged.