Richard Avedon is a photographer who has promoted photography as a contemporary art form while working with celebrities, fashion icons, and ordinary Americans throughout his long and fruitful career. His style is iconic and exemplary. While portraits of his contemporaries focused on individual moments and showed the formal side of a person’s nature, his sharp lighting and minimalistic white background drew the viewer's attention not only to beauty, but also to the personality and innermost, genuine emotions of the models. One of the most famous photographers of the 20th century is who Richard Avedon was.
Master Biography: childhood
The boy was born May 15, 1923 in a Jewish family in New York. His mother was from a family engaged in the production of dresses, and his father owned a clothing store. Therefore, Richard’s life from childhood was connected with the world of fashion and beauty. The boy loved to photograph clothes in his father’s store and even joined the club of photography lovers at the age of 12. For a long time, he was inspired by the beauty of her younger sister Louise. Unfortunately, she suffered from mental illness and did not live long, so Richard developed a reverent attitude to beauty, which speaks for itself, but is doomed to wither.
Youth and career start
After school, Avedon entered Columbia University, where he studied philosophy and poetry. However, the young man quit training for the sake of service in the Navy during 1942-1944. After that, he studied photography for a year under the direction of Harper's Bazaar art director Alexei Brodovich. A strong friendship developed between the teacher and the student, and soon Avedon was accepted into the collective of the magazine. For 10 years, he took pictures for gloss and established himself as one of the most talented young photographers. But real fame was ahead.
In 1944, Avedon married the model Dorcas Novell, after 6 years of marriage, they broke up. In 1951, he again tied the knot with Evelyn Franklin. They had a son, John, but their union also ended in divorce.
Legendary breakthrough
Photos of Dovima van Cliff with elephants became the first widely known works of the master. Pictures of the most famous model of that time in a chic outfit from Dior, with real elephants in the circus arena look unexpected and at the same time aesthetically impeccable.
Here are some more interesting work that Richard Avedon did during that period:
- Photo actress Marilyn Monroe is unique in its kind. Richard recalled how in the spring evening of 1957, a diva came to his studio and for several hours posed, danced, and flirted. But when the work was finished, for an instant, the actress “left” the image. The photographer managed to capture this rare moment, when she was herself, defenseless and open.
- Another interesting photo taken at the same time is a portrait of Marilyn Monroe and her husband, handsome screenwriter Arthur Miller. Here, the actress shines with happiness next to her beloved person, with whom she has been together for 2 years. A few years later they parted, but filled with joy and optimism, the moment forever remained with us thanks to the skill of the photographer.
- This portrait of Elizabeth Taylor with a fancy feather hairstyle was taken on July 1, 1964. Perfect balance, sharp contrast - the minimalist style that Richard Avedon was famous for reflected the aesthetics of the 60s. Elizabeth was at that time the highest paid actress in Hollywood, and the photographer was not afraid to give her portrait a touch of appeal and grandeur.
Transition to competitors
In 1966, Avedon, after a 2-year creative crisis, began working for Harper's Bazaar's main rival, Vogue magazine. Here he too was given complete freedom of creativity. Their cooperation lasted until 1990 and was marked by no less interesting work. Provocative, surreal shots confirmed that Richard Avedon is a true innovator who revolutionized the art of fashion photography.
Work outside the beauty industry
But the already recognized master was not limited to pictures of celebrities and style icons. His portfolio also contains portraits of politicians (US President D. D. Eisenhower, Dr. Martin Luther King and others), soldiers who fought in the Vietnam War, and its victims.
Later, in 1979, Richard Avedon began work on a large-scale project called In the American West, which lasted 6 years. In his framework, he took photos of ordinary Americans: miners, drivers, cowboys, the unemployed, adolescents - everyone who caught his attention.
The project was met with criticism, he was accused of exposing US citizens in a bad light. But over time, the photobook became a bestseller and one of the most important milestones in the art of portrait photography of the twentieth century.
Last years
In 1992, Avedon became an employee of The New Yorker. He expressed a desire to photograph not only celebrities, but also people who have achieved something important. His last project, which was destined to remain unfinished, was called Democracy and consisted of portraits of not only politicians, but also ordinary citizens who took an active part in political and social activities.
Richard Avadon died on October 1, 2004 during a job in San Antonio, Texas. Until the last, he remained faithful to the art of photography.