Born in New York City 100 years ago today, Richard Avedon was a singular force in fashion and art photography, pioneering a visual style that privileged both formal innovation and a sense of theater—whether he was working in the studio or out on the street. “Avedon’s unflinchingly frank aesthetic has become so much a part of the conventions of photographic portraiture it is easy to forget that he invented it,” Larry Gagosian writes in the splendid exhibition catalogue for “Avedon 100,” the sprawling centennial celebration now on view at his 21st Street gallery. “He is one of the greatest portraitists in history, as important to his time as Holbein and Gainsborough were to theirs.”
During his long career, which stretched from the mid-1940s until his death in 2004, Avedon would create some of the defining fashion images of the 20th century for Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue, as well as important portraits of civil rights activists, politicians, and outsiders of all kinds. (Together with James Baldwin, a friend of his from high school, Avedon released the book Nothing Personal in 1964, exploring “the contradictions at the heart of American experience.” Included in its pages were his images of figures like Marilyn Monroe, Allen Ginsberg, Malcolm X, and members of the American Nazi Party.)
For “Avedon 100,” Gagosian invited friends, family, collaborators, and admirers of Avedon to select their favorite images from his vast oeuvre and explain what they meant to him. Below, we gather 11 photos from the show, with tributes from Vogue editors and contributors.
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