A while back, Richard Avedon had a confession to make. “I hate cameras,” said the man who revolutionized fashion and portrait photography. “If I could only work with my eyes alone!”
Yet Avedon’s photos seem to do just that — they remove the distance the camera lens creates to make you feel that you are right there beside his subjects.
Born in New York City in 1923, Avedon had a stern father, an artistic mother and a beautiful, but troubled, sister. At 18, he wanted to be a poet. And the slight, 5’7” dreamer didn’t lack confidence — or a sense of drama. “I know my drifting will not prove a loss / For mine is a rolling stone that has gathered moss,” he wrote in 1941.
A year later, Avedon joined the Merchant Marines, where he spent his World War II years shooting ID photos of new recruits. “I must have taken pictures of 100,000 faces before it occurred to me I was becoming a photographer,” he later recalled.
After demobilization in 1944, Avedon shot fashion pictures for the tony Manhattan department store Bonwit Teller and studied with Alexey Brodovitch, the legendary art director of Harper’s Bazaar. By 1945, his work was appearing in Junior Bazaar.
“His first photographs for us were technically very bad,” Brodovitch later recalled. “But they were not snapshots. . . . Those first pictures of his had freshness and individuality, and they showed enthusiasm and a willingness to take chances.”
Who else was willing to take chances? Brodovitch and Carmel Snow, editor in chief of Harper’s Bazaar, who soon sent the young talent to fashion’s sacred capital, Paris.
The postwar years were hard in Paris. When Avedon first arrived there, in 1946, it was with an explicit directive from Snow. “Dick was tasked with this idea that he was there to rebuild Paris,” explains Martin. In restoring the energy and excitement around Paris, Avedon imbued it with some of his own.
Avedon’s models jumped, twirled, leapt over puddles and they smiled. Like Avedon himself, they rarely stood still. While he wasn’t the first to use action in fashion photography (in the 1930s, Martin Munkacsi and Toni Frissell began creating fashion images of women engaged in sporty scenarios), Avedon was the first to pair such vitality with women wearing couture.
Character and spirit became la mode. Dovima’s graceful silhouette juxtaposed against the wrinkled heft of two shackled elephants. Dorian Leigh laughing and embracing a bicycle racer. Suzy Parker roller skating across the Place de la Concorde. Sunny Harnett and her cool gaze just daring the roulette table — and every man in the room — not to do her bidding. There was always a narrative in an Avedon mise en scène — whether the background was elaborately staged or stark, the model’s job had forever changed from posing, to acting.
Of course, Avedon did not limit himself to fashion photography. The little boy who once collected autographs grew up to create the most iconic portraits of the 20th century, many of these were included in an exhibition at Guild Hall Museum in East Hampton, New York, in 2017.
A 1958 New Yorker profile noted that even though Avedon’s portraits immortalized cultural elites such as Truman Capote, Elsa Maxwell and Charles Laughton, the qualities that most interested the photographer were “advanced age, physical debility, ugliness, or the pathos underlying the surface insouciance.” Yet “none of Avedon’s subjects seem to resent this kind of treatment . . . being selected to sit for one of his Harper’s Bazaar portraits ranks as an accolade.”
Over the next 40-plus years of his career, his iconic portraiture never lost its force; although at times, his unvarnished truth felt cruel.
But Avedon was a creator, not an observer, and he made no apologies for this. The sitter and the photographer “have separate ambitions for the image,” he wrote in 1985. “His need to plead his case probably goes as deep as my need to plead mine, but the control is with me.”
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Richard Avedon Original 1967 poster featuring John Lennon - The Beatles
By Richard Avedon
Located in PARIS, FR
Original 1967 poster featuring John Lennon, one of the iconic members of The Beatles, immortalized by the legendary photographer Richard Avedon, is a timel...
Paper
$1,200Sale Price|20% Off
Richard Avedon signed Marlborough Gallery Exhibition Poster
By Richard Avedon
Located in Senoia, GA
This is the famous poster for the pivotal first major exhibition of master photographer Richard Avedon’s work at a commercial New York art gallery, the Marlborough Gallery. This post...
Lithograph
$1,176
Richard Avedon Original 1967 poster featuring Paul McCartney - The Beatles
By Richard Avedon
Located in PARIS, FR
The original 1967 poster featuring Paul McCartney, a luminary member of The Beatles, captured by the legendary photographer Richard Avedon, stands as a sig...
Paper
Les années 1940 (Stephanie Seymour: La Passante du Siecle)
By Richard Avedon
Located in Houston, TX
Richard Avedon Les années 1940 (Stephanie Seymour: La Passante du Siecle), 1997 Gelatin silver print 15 1/2 x 19 in (39.4 x 48.3 cm) Edition of 4 JPHB 5683
Silver Gelatin
Richard Avedon Original 1967 poster featuring Ringo Starr - The Beatles
By Richard Avedon
Located in PARIS, FR
The original 1967 poster featuring Ringo Starr, one of the legendary members of The Beatles, captured by the renowned photographer Richard Avedon, stands as an iconic piece of pop cu...
Paper
RICHARD AVEDON - CENTER FOR CREATIVE IMAGING
By Richard Avedon
Located in Portland, ME
Avedon, Richard. RICHARD AVEDON - CENTER FOR CREATIVE IMAGING. Poster, 1991. Signed in ink by Avedon. Captioned " Gordon Stevenson, drifter Interstate 90 Butte Montana...
Offset
Elise Daniels, Turban by Paulette, Le Pré-Catalan, Paris
By Richard Avedon
Located in New York, NY
Signed by the photographer
Silver Gelatin
Price Upon Request
Suzy Parker and Gardner McKay (Dress by Balmain), Café Des Beaux-Arts, Paris
By Richard Avedon
Located in New York, NY
Richard Avedon (1923-2004) Suzy Parker and Gardner McKay (Dress by Balmain), Café des Beaux-Arts, Paris, August 1956 1956/2001 Signed and numbered in pencil, verso Gelatin silver ...
Silver Gelatin
Elise Daniels, Turban by Paulette, Le Pré-Catelan, Paris
By Richard Avedon
Located in New York, NY
Signed by the photographer on the verso
Silver Gelatin
Price Upon Request
Marlene Dietrich, Turban by Dior, The Ritz, Paris, 1955
By Richard Avedon
Located in New York, NY
Signed by the photographer on the verso
Silver Gelatin
Twiggy, Hair by Ara Gallant, Paris Studio, January, 1968
By Richard Avedon
Located in New York, NY
Signed by the photographer
Silver Gelatin
Roots, Foster Gardens, Honolulu
By Ansel Adams
Located in Pacific Grove, CA
This vintage silver gelatin print is signed in pencil on the mount beneath the image. Printed in 1948 in an edition of 75 numbered copies. This print is from presentation set #33. Po...
Silver Gelatin
$895
H 15.75 in W 11.75 in
Cecil Beaton, Buster Keaton, from Electa Editrice Portfolios, 1981 (after)
By Cecil Beaton
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Cecil Beaton (1904–1980) (after) Title: Buster Keaton Year: 1981 Medium: Heliogravure on velin paper Paper Size: 15.75 x 11.75 inches (40.01 x 29.84 cm) Condition: Well prese...
Offset
$1,176
H 14.97 in W 11.03 in D 0.04 in
André Planson - French Province - Handsigned Original Lithograph
By Andre Planson
Located in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH
André Planson - French Province Original Lithograph Handsigned Dimensions: 38 x 28 cm Leonor Fini is considered one of the most important women artists of the mid-twentieth century, along with Leonora Carrington, Frida Kahlo, Meret Oppenheim, Remedios Varo, and Dorothea Tanning – most of whom Fini knew well. Her career, which spanned some six decades, included painting, graphic design, book illustration, product design (the renowned torso-shaped perfume bottle for Schiaparelli’s Shocking), and set and costume design for theatre, ballet, opera, and film. In this compellingly readable, exhaustively researched account, author Peter Webb brings Fini’s provocative art and unconventional personal life, as well as the vibrant avant-garde world in which she revolved, vividly in life. Born in Buenos Aires in 1907 (August 30 – January 18, 1996, Paris) to Italian and Argentine parents, Leonor grew up in Trieste, Italy, raised by her strong-willed, independent mother, Malvina. She was a virtually self-taught artist, learing anatomy directly from studying cadavers in the local morgue and absorbing composition and technique from the Old Masters through books and visits to museums. Fini’s fledging attempts at painting in Trieste let her to Milan, where she participated in her first group exhibition in 1929, and then to Paris in 1931. Her vivacious personality and flamboyant attire instantly garnered her a spotlight in the Parisian art world and she soon developed close relationships with the leading surrealist writers and painters, including Paul Eluard, Salvador Dali, Man Ray, and Max Ernst, who became her lover for a time. The only surrealist she could not abide because of his misogyny was André Breton. Although she repeatedly exhibited with them, she never considered herself a surrealist. The American dealer Julien Levy, very much impressed by Fini’s painting and smitten by her eccentric charms, invited her to New York in 1936, where she took part in a joint gallery exhibition with Max Ernst and met many American surrealists, including Joseph Cornell and Pavel Tchelitchew. Her work was included in MoMA’s pivotal Fantastic Art, Dada and Surrealism exhibition, along with De Chirico, Dali, Ernst, and Yves Tanguy. In 1939 in Paris she curated an exhibition of surrealist furniture...
Lithograph
$895
H 15.75 in W 11.75 in
Cecil Beaton, Marlon Brando, from Electa Editrice Portfolios, 1981 (after)
By Cecil Beaton
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Cecil Beaton (1904–1980) (after) Title: Marlon Brando Year: 1981 Medium: Heliogravure on velin paper Paper Size: 15.75 x 11.75 inches (40.01 x 29.84 cm) Condition: Well prese...
Offset
$5,600
H 9.25 in W 7.38 in D 0.07 in
GEORGE PLATT LYNES 7 NUDE PHOTOGRAPHS of dancer FRANCISCO MONCION in NYC Apt.
By George Platt Lynes
Located in Glenford, NY
Extraordinary Rare and personal George Platt Lyons nude photographs of NYC Ballet dancer Francisco Moncion in the New York City apartment of Platt Lynes. These are original vintage g...
Silver Gelatin
$950
H 10 in W 8 in D 0.07 in
DOUGLAS JULEFF Vintage 1940s Photograph of "Beefcake" model MIKE DUBEL #2
Located in Glenford, NY
Rare 1940s Original Vintage Gelatin Silver Photograph by DOUGLAS JULEFF - also known as DOUG OF DETROIT - of bodybuilder and Mr. America contender MIKE DUBEL. Dubel competed in the 1...
Silver Gelatin
$600
H 10 in W 8 in D 0.07 in
LON OF NY ALONZO HANAGAN RARE 1950 VINTAGE MALE NUDE PHOTOGRAPH FRED REGAN
Located in Glenford, NY
Alonzo Hanagan, Lon of New York, Original Vintage Photograph of Fred Regan, circa 1950. Alonzo James Hanagan (1911–1999), working under the pseudonym "Lon of New York," was a pion...
Silver Gelatin
$895
H 15.75 in W 11.75 in
Cecil Beaton, Audrey Hepburn, from Electa Editrice Portfolios, 1981 (after)
By Cecil Beaton
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Cecil Beaton (1904–1980) (after) Title: Audrey Hepburn Year: 1981 Medium: Heliogravure on velin paper Paper Size: 15.75 x 11.75 inches (40.01 x 29.84 cm) Condition: Well pres...
Offset
$950
H 10 in W 8 in D 0.07 in
DOUGLAS JULEFF Vintage 1940s Photograph of "Beefcake" model MIKE DUBEL #5
Located in Glenford, NY
Rare 1940s Original Vintage Gelatin Silver Photograph by DOUGLAS JULEFF - also known as DOUG OF DETROIT - of bodybuilder and Mr. America contender MIKE DUBEL. Dubel competed in the 1...
Silver Gelatin
$895
H 15.75 in W 11.75 in
Cecil Beaton, Gary Cooper, from Electa Editrice Portfolios, 1981 (after)
By Cecil Beaton
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Cecil Beaton (1904–1980) (after) Title: Gary Cooper Year: 1981 Medium: Heliogravure on velin paper Paper Size: 15.75 x 11.75 inches (40.01 x 29.84 cm) Condition: Well preserv...
Offset
$895
H 15.75 in W 11.75 in
Cecil Beaton, Pablo Picasso, from Electa Editrice Portfolios, 1981 (after)
By Cecil Beaton
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Cecil Beaton (1904–1980) (after) Title: Pablo Picasso Year: 1981 Medium: Heliogravure on velin paper Paper Size: 15.75 x 11.75 inches (40.01 x 29.84 cm) Condition: Well prese...
Offset
$950
H 8 in W 10 in D 0.07 in
DOUGLAS JULEFF Vintage 1940s Photograph of "Beefcake" model MIKE DUBEL #7
Located in Glenford, NY
Rare 1940s Original Vintage Gelatin Silver Photograph by DOUGLAS JULEFF - also known as DOUG OF DETROIT - of bodybuilder and Mr. America contender MIKE DUBEL. Dubel competed in the 1...
Silver Gelatin
Sold
H 18.12 in W 13.98 in D 0.08 in
Bianca Jagger - Photograph by Richard Avedon - 1978
By Richard Avedon
Located in Roma, IT
Fine Duotone Photolithograph, printed in 1978. Medium weight - satin/matte finish. Excellent condition. Certificate of authenticity on rear.
Photographic Paper
Sold
H 26.78 in W 18.12 in D 0.04 in
The Beatles Portfolio - Offset and Lithograph by Richard Avedon - 1967
By Richard Avedon
Located in Roma, IT
A complete portfolio of four individual psychedelic portraits of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, accompanied by the composite poster uniting all four i...
Lithograph, Offset
"Friends in Deed"
By Richard Avedon
Located in Astoria, NY
Richard Avedon (American, 1923-2004), "Friends in Deed", Gelatin Silver Print, 1999, signed in ink and dated lower right, wood frame. Image: 9.75" H x 7.75" W; frame: 18" H x 15.5" W...
Silver Gelatin
Sold
H 26.78 in W 18.51 in
Richard Avedon Original 1967 poster featuring George Harrison The Beatles
By Richard Avedon
Located in PARIS, FR
Original 1967 poster featuring George Harrison, an iconic member of The Beatles, immortalized by the visionary photographer Richard Avedon, stands as a rem...
Paper
Sold
H 24.02 in W 35.44 in
hand-signed 1981 poster of Richard Avedon Nastassja Kinski and the serpent
By Richard Avedon
Located in PARIS, FR
In the world of photography and fashion, Richard Avedon remains an iconic figure whose work continues to inspire and captivate audiences. One of his most celebrated pieces, this hand...
Linen, Paper
Sold
H 9.73 in Dm 7.49 in
Marilyn Monroe for "Some Like It Hot, shooting", USA, 1958
By Richard Avedon
Located in Cologne, DE
Norma Jeane Mortenson or better known as Marilyn Monroe – iconic, beautiful and maybe the most known Hollywood Stars of the 20th century. Born and raised in Los Angeles, USA, she spe...
Black and White
Sold
H 40 in W 25 in
Richard Avedon Who Has a Better Right to Oppose the War (Vietnam protest poster)
By Richard Avedon
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Richard Avedon, "Who Has a Better Right to Oppose the War?," Vintage original protest poster, 1969 A famous 1969 Richard Avedon illustrated poster against the Vietnam War. Avedon's picture depicts a handsome soldier wearing a formal US Army uniform colored bright red (symbolic for blood). The soldier is seen holding a white dove, over the caption, 'Who Has a Better Right to Oppose the War?' Commissioned by The Student Mobilization Committee, the poster became a effective anti-war rallying device of the late 1960s. Off-set lithograph in colors 25 x 40 inches Some signs of minor handling; otherwise very good Plate signed on lower left Collections Whitney Museum of American Art - Daniel Wolf Collection of Protest Posters Richard Avedon’s dynamic, stylized portraits helped bridge the worlds of fashion and fine art photography. Avedon captured his staged subjects on black-and-white film, sometimes in motion. He turned his probing, intimate gaze on both everyday civilians and cultural icons such as Marilyn Monroe and Malcolm X. Avedon served as a photographer in the military before working as both a freelancer and staff photographer for publications including Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, The New Yorker, Life, and others. While he is widely known for his commercial and editorial practices, Avedon also exhibited widely in cities including New York, Paris, and London. Throughout his lifetime, he published a number of books of collected photography. On the secondary market, Avedon’s work has sold in excess of $1 million. Related Categories Richard Avedon Beatles.
Lithograph, Offset
1993 Richard Avedon 'An Autobiography' Book
By Richard Avedon
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Paper Size: 14.25 x 11.5 inches ( 36.195 x 29.21 cm ) Image Size: 14.25 x 11.5 inches ( 36.195 x 29.21 cm ) Framed: NoCondition: A-: Near Mint, very light signs of handling Addition...
Offset
Beatles Poster (set of 4)
By Richard Avedon
Located in Washington , DC, DC
In addition to working within the world of fashion, Richard Avedon lent his photographic talents to civil rights and rock posters. In 1967, Avedon shot fou...
Lithograph, Paper
The Beatles, Richard Avedon
By Richard Avedon
Located in New York, NY
This portfolio of four individual offset lithographs in color are from the first printing dating to 1967. It is the age and condition that makes this such a rare find, each print me...
Lithograph, Offset
The Beatles, Richard Avedon
By Richard Avedon
Located in New York, NY
This portfolio of four individual offset lithographs in color are from the first printing dating to 1967. It is the age and condition that makes this such a rare find, each print me...
Lithograph, Offset
The Beatles, Richard Avedon
By Richard Avedon
Located in New York, NY
This portfolio of four individual offset lithographs in color are from the first printing dating to 1967. It is the age and condition that makes this such a rare find, each print me...
Lithograph, Offset