"A photographic portrait is a picture of someone who knows he's
being photographed and what he does with this knowledge is as much a part of
the photograph as what he's wearing or how he looks." - Richard Avedon
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| Dorian Leigh, hat by Paulette Paris studio, August 1949 |
While looking through my “Vogue- The
Covers” book, I came across the most breathtaking photograph of the Princess Grace
of Monaco on the 1971 Christmas edition of Vogue. After taking in its beauty, I
decided to do some research on the man behind the photograph, Mr. Richard
Avedon.
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| Princess Grace of Monaco Vogue December 1971 |
Born and raised in New York City, Richard
Avedon has had an obsession with photography since his childhood. After having
studied philosophy at Colombia University, he chose to study photography.
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| "The 1990s, Stephanie Seymour, in Chanel Paris, April 1995" |
Throughout his life as a photographer, he
transmitted a noticeable sense of uniqueness through his photos that was
mistakenly his own. He had a style of photography that caught the
sophistication, the freedom, the excitement and the energy of not only fashions
but also his subjects. He gave his subjects the will to move freely while
taking the shot. The movements brought a hint of spontaneity to his
photographs.
His Career
Starting off as a photographer for a department store, he made his living off of print advertising. In 1946, an art director from Harper’s Bazaar discovered him. Avedon soon started producing work for them along with other publications including Vogue and Look. While working for Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue, he photographed close to 40 years worth of Paris collections. (1947 to 1987). Richard worked for Harper’s Bazaar up until 1965. In 1966, he became a staff photographer for Vogue until the 1990s. Two years later, at the age of 69, he became the first ever staff photographer for The New Yorker.
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| Dovima with elephants. Evening dress by Dior. Cirqur d'Hiver, August 1955 |
His Photography
and Inspiration
“Richard’s Avedon’s fashion and portrait photography helped define America’s image of style, beauty and culture.” – The New York Times, 2004.
Looking through his fashion photos, Mr.
Avedon had a way of making the camera dramatize the world’s fashions in the
most creative ways. He was inspired and followed in the great footsteps of Mr.
Martin Munkácsi.
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| Homage to Munkacsi. Paris, August 1957 |
"He brought a taste for happiness
and honesty and a love of women to what was, before him, a joyless, loveless,
lying art. Today the world of what is called fashion is peopled with Munkácsi's
babies, his heirs.... The art of Munkácsi lay in what he wanted life to be, and
he wanted it to be splendid. And it was."
- Richard Avedon on Martin Munkacsi.
The Munkácsi’s inspiration on Avedon is
seen through Richard’s work for Harper’s Bazaar. They shared the same taste in photography,
which included having movement in their photos, for Avedon disliked the
standard technique of photographing fashion models staring emotionless into the
camera.
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| Veruschka. New York, January 1967 |
Richard had a repetitive style when taking his portraits. They were usually taken in black and white, in front of a well-lit, white backdrop and when printed, contained a dark outline of film. There were usually no props or extra detail. He specifically wanted to focus the subject in front of the camera. He tried staying away from making a photograph “pretty” and rather tried to bring out the reality of his subject instead.
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| Jean Shrimpton. Paris Studio, August 1965 |
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| Marella Agnelli. New York, December 1953 |
Richard Avedon was the biggest influence on fashion photography. The high fashion photography of today, which is the art of putting a beautiful model in “ugly” situations, was very much influenced and created off of Mr. Avedon’s own personal style.
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| Penelope Tree. January 1968 |
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| Veruschka. Japan, February 1966 |
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| Penelope Tree. January 1968 |
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| Twiggy. Paris studio, January 1968 |
Goodbye Richard
While shooting an assignment for The New Yorker in San Antonio, Texas,
Richard Avedon died at the age of 81. His death was caused by a brain
hemorrhage.
As sad as it may have been, losing one of
the most influential people in photography, Richard had died while doing what
he loved best and that may be the reason why he is seen as one of the more
noted photographers to have lived.
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| Richard Avedon, photographer. New York, May 31, 2002 |
- The Richard Avedon Foundation
- British Vogue
- The New York Times
- Richard Avedon Quotes
- Museum of Modern Arts
- Design Boom
- About.com - Photography
- Wikipedia
- Vogue - The Covers by Dodie Kazanjian. 2011
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