November 5, 1936

Artist William Christenberry was born in Tuscaloosa. Christenberry worked in a wide variety of media, including painting, drawing, sculpture and assemblage, but he is best known for his photographs of Hale County. Through annual trips to the region, he documented a disappearing way of life through images of buildings and places as they changed through the decades. He is hailed as a pioneer of color photography as art, and his work is exhibited in museums throughout the world. Christenberry won the Distinguished Artist Award from the Alabama Council on the Arts in 1995 and published an autobiographical collection of stories titled “Working from Memory” in 2008.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

William Christenberry (1936-2016) was one of Alabama’s most renowned visual artists. The Tuscaloosa native worked in a wide variety of media, but he is probably best known for his photography. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library, The University of Alabama Libraries)

Christenberry received his training in studio art at the University of Alabama. Here, he and other students work on a sculpture project. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library, The University of Alabama Libraries)

Dream Building Ensemble, 2001. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of William Christenberry)

Side of Palmist Building, Havana Junction, Alabama, 1971. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of William Christenberry)

Tenant House I, 1960. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of William Christenberry)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.