VANTAG galeria: Avedon

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Avedon

Richard Avedon elevated fashion photography to a form of contemporary art. In his work for Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue, he redefined the role of the model and photographer – using outdoor locations and natural light, and bringing expression, laughter and movement to the previously nonchalant world of the fashion image.

Charlize Theron, The New Yorker, 2004

Moving into the journalism and art world in the 1960s, he captured the faces of the civil rights movement, Vietnam war protestors, activists, politicians and artists. His landmark 1979 portrait series The Western Project saw him journey across the American West to capture intimate and raw portraits of working class life.
As the first ever staff photographer at The New Yorker, he aimed to “photograph people of accomplishment, not celebrity, and help define the difference once again”.

Jean Shrimpton in a Mondrian dress by YSL, Harper's Bazaar, 1965

By asking probing questions, he provoked subjects to expose themselves emotionally in his images, a unique kind of therapy for him – “My portraits are more about me than they are about the people I photograph.”
Explore some of our favourite images from Avedon’s 50 year career at the defining edge of American style and culture.