NADAV KANDER RICHARD AVEDON GUIDED TOUR LINKS RICHARD AVEDON Richard Avedon was born in New York City on May 15, 1923. At the age of 14 he had already made his debut as an author. After his military service, he studied at the Design Laboratory in New York. He founded the Richard Avedon Studio in 1946, and from then on his portrait photographs were featured regularly in the New Yorker. He worked for fashion magazine Harper’s Bazaar from 1945 to 1965, and in 1947 he began working for Vogue, assuring his place as a leading fashion and portrait photographer. His subjects included celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin, Brigitte Bardot, and Henry Kissinger. Avedon always used the same minimalist stylistic devices for his portraits: a black-and-white film combined with a neutral, white background. He refrained from using further technical devices. Thus, the subject remained the focus of the photograph, revealing all of their inner as well as outer strengths, weaknesses and character traits. In 1976, Rolling Stone published »The Family«, a special issue of Avedon’s portraits. It was comprised of 69 portraits of American politicians, high-ranking business moguls as well as influential lobbyists. Thanks to Avedon’s innovative manner of representation and perspective, it became one of the greatest portrait series in American history. Alongside his work with celebrities, Avedon also documented the lives of those less fortunate: war victims, the homeless, and the poor. Probably the most famous example of this is his »In the American West« series. Here, Avedon took a look behind the scenes at the rural population, the social underclass of America, and in doing so destroyed the previously commonly held belief of America as a land of prosperity and well-being. Richard Avedon died on October 1, 2004, in San Antonio, aged 81. Countless exhibitions, retrospectives, and prizes recognize Richard Avedon and his work. He is regarded as one of the most significant photographers of the 20th century.
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