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Avedon An Autobiography
Red titles on front board & spine brown boards. Profuse b/w photos by Avedon. A unique collection of photographs which tracks the path of three crucial illusions in the authors life. The first section is about the illusion of laughter and a young mans discovery of the fine line between hilarity and panic. The second is about the illusion of power. The third section is about the loss of all illusions.
- GenresPhotographyArt
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1993
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About the author
Richard Avedon
181 books46 followersPeople note fashion photography and stark portraits of Richard Avedon, an American.
Richard Avedon captured ideals of celebrity and beauty in the 20th and early 21st centuries to helped to establish a contemporary art form. Avedon developed a distinct, iconic style. While his contemporaries focused on single moments or composed formal images, his lighting and minimalist white backdrops drew the viewer to the intimate, emotive power of the expression of the subject.
Richard Avedon studied philosophy at Columbia University, New York, and served in the department of the merchant marines of the United States before studying with Alexey Brodovitch at the New School for Social Research.
From 1945, he worked and revolutionized the craft even as he honed his aesthetic to 1965. He worked in magazines from Harper's Bazaar and Vogue to Life and Look. Later, he moved into journalism and the art world. His subjects included pop stars, models, musicians, writers, artists, workers, political activists, soldiers, victims of Vietnam War, politicians, and his family.
Curator Paul Roth observes: “In an Avedon portrait, the face maps an intersection: It is a place where the world outside the photograph meets the world inside the mind.”
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York presented solo exhibitions in 1978 and 2002. The Whitney Museum of Art in New York in 1994 mounted major retrospective. The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humblebaek, Denmark, mounted his works in 2007, and the exhibit traveled to Milan, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, and San Francisco through 2009.
Richard Avedon captured ideals of celebrity and beauty in the 20th and early 21st centuries to helped to establish a contemporary art form. Avedon developed a distinct, iconic style. While his contemporaries focused on single moments or composed formal images, his lighting and minimalist white backdrops drew the viewer to the intimate, emotive power of the expression of the subject.
Richard Avedon studied philosophy at Columbia University, New York, and served in the department of the merchant marines of the United States before studying with Alexey Brodovitch at the New School for Social Research.
From 1945, he worked and revolutionized the craft even as he honed his aesthetic to 1965. He worked in magazines from Harper's Bazaar and Vogue to Life and Look. Later, he moved into journalism and the art world. His subjects included pop stars, models, musicians, writers, artists, workers, political activists, soldiers, victims of Vietnam War, politicians, and his family.
Curator Paul Roth observes: “In an Avedon portrait, the face maps an intersection: It is a place where the world outside the photograph meets the world inside the mind.”
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York presented solo exhibitions in 1978 and 2002. The Whitney Museum of Art in New York in 1994 mounted major retrospective. The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humblebaek, Denmark, mounted his works in 2007, and the exhibit traveled to Milan, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, and San Francisco through 2009.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 22, 2021
a BIG book, about 2 feet across when you open it. All black and white work.
It's beautiful and ugly. There's glamour and there's discomfort. A lot of famous faces in the book, as well as some random strangers and hospital patients.
It's beautiful and ugly. There's glamour and there's discomfort. A lot of famous faces in the book, as well as some random strangers and hospital patients.
November 2, 2018
What can be said about his work?
The framing, the white backgrounds, the anguish of the models, the ugliness of the rich and more.
Amazing work.
The framing, the white backgrounds, the anguish of the models, the ugliness of the rich and more.
Amazing work.
January 12, 2022
The largest book I own, but absolutely worth making space for. If anybody ever needed proof that Richard Avedon was a genius, this should be more than enough to shut them up.
September 6, 2022
Excellent read
May 28, 2007
amazing photography
December 20, 2007
Every photographer should own this book!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews