Southern photographer William Christenberry dies at 80

WASHINGTON – William Christenberry (CHRIS-en-bear-ee), an artist known for his photographs of crumbling buildings and rusty cars amid the verdant landscape of rural Alabama, has died. He was 80.

His daughter, Kate Christenberry, says Christenberry died Nov. 28 at a nursing home in Washington. She says the cause of death was complications from Alzheimer’s disease.

Christenberry was a longtime resident of the nation’s capital and taught painting and drawing for decades at the Corcoran School of Art.

Christenberry was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and spent much of his childhood in rural Hale County. For years he made annual summer trips to the county and other parts of the state, where he documented his surroundings with a simple Kodak Brownie camera.