Richard Avedon (1923 - 2004)
Biography
Richard Avedon (May 15, 1923 - October 1, 2004) was an American photographer. Avedon was able to take his early success in fashion photography and expand it into the realm of fine art. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Avedon [Oct 2004]
Marilyn posing as Marlene
Marilyn Monroe as Marlene Dietrich (1958) - Richard Avedon
In the fall of 1958, Marilyn posed for the photographer, Richard Avedon, in a series of interpretations of the great sex symbols of the 20th century: Lillian Russell, Theda Bara, Clara Bow, Jean Harlow and Marlene Dietrich. Some of these photos were published exclusively by Life magazine. Miller wote an introduction to the article entitled, My wife, Marilyn. Many have criticized Miller for the contents of this article. Regardless of what Miller said or thinks, these pictures speak for themselves. --http://home.att.net/~sallyann3/avedon.html [Oct 2004]
Dovima with Elephants (1955) - Richard Avedon
Dovima with Elephants (1955) - Richard Avedon
image sourced here.
The 1960's were years of major change in fashion and fashion photography. As Bob Richardson observed “Sex…happened to fashion photography in the 1960's”. Women's roles in society were being questioned and the youth quake was having an enormous cultural influence. Fashion trends were not just flowing down from Paris but were coming up from street culture. In Britain the terrible three David Bailey, Terence Donovan and Bob Richardson were instrumental in introducing spontaneity and sex into fashion photography. The development of the S.L.R. camera aided a more relaxed and realistic approach to portraying fashion and models. These young photographers saw themselves as superstars; the media humoured them and gave them license to create as they wanted. David Bailey's images of Jean Shrimpton and Twiggy epitomised the fashions of the emerging ready to wear boutiques and captured the vitality of the decade. The 1960's saw the profession becoming extremely lucrative and photographers attaining celebrity status. Nova magazine, first published in 1965 reflected the zeitgeist and photographic vitality. The emphasis was more on art and atmosphere than the clothes themselves. --http://www.garfnet.org.uk/new_mill/spring98/ah_photo.htm [Jul 2005]
see also: Richard Avedon - fashion photography - 1955
The Sixties - Richard Avedon, Doon Arbus
The Sixties - Richard Avedon, Doon Arbus [Amazon US]
The Sixties is the product of a 30-year collaboration between photographer Richard Avedon and writer Doon Arbus, whose images and words combine in this volume to create a compelling portrait of one of the 20th century's most tumultuous decades. Avedon, the celebrated photographer whose portraits of some of the best-known personalities of our age have graced the pages of Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, and The New Yorker magazines since the early 1950s, was prolific during the '60s. Looked at together, his images from those years create a visual time capsule. This large book is filled with a cacophony of Yippies, Black Panthers, Weathermen, Hare Krishnas, Andy Warhol Factory Superstars, pop artists, rock musicians, astronauts, pacifists, politicians, electroshock therapists, media correspondents, civil rights lawyers, antiwar activists, and more--all shot against his signature white background. Arbus, a novelist and writer for magazines including Rolling Stone and The Nation (and the daughter of photographer Diane Arbus), conducted interviews with many of the subjects. Snippets of those conversations provide an intimate and unforgettable document of the tension, vulnerability, anger, recklessness, hope, and empowerment many people experienced during that era. Brief biographies of the portrait sitters, as well as a chronology that spans the first signs of the war in Vietnam in 1960 to its final conclusion in 1973, provide excellent context for the images. The Sixties is riveting. --A.C. Smith, Amazon.com
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