Richard Avedon American, 1923-2004

A native of New York, Richard Avedon developed an interest in photography at a very early age. After spending two years in military service and working as a freelance photographer, he opened and operated a successful commercial studio. Avedon is widely credited with erasing the line between "art" and "commercial" photography. His brand-defining work and long-standing collaborations with Calvin Klein, Revlon, Versace, and dozens of other companies resulted in some of the most recognizable advertising campaigns in American history.

These commercial projects gave Avedon the freedom to pursue major personal works that explored his cultural, political, and artistic interests. He is particularly known for his portraits documenting the American Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, and his celebrated 1969 series depicting members of Andy Warhol's Factory, including the striking portrait of Warhol's scarred torso following the assassination attempt by Valerie Solanas. In 1976, Avedon produced The Family for Rolling Stone magazine, a collective portrait of the American power elite during the country's bicentennial election. From 1979 to 1985, he worked extensively on a commission for the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, culminating in the exhibition and book In the American West.

Avedon's first museum retrospective was held at the Smithsonian Institution in 1962. Numerous major exhibitions followed, including retrospectives at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1978 and 2002), the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (1970), the Amon Carter Museum of American Art (1985), and the Whitney Museum of American Art (1994). His first book of photographs, Observations, featuring an essay by Truman Capote, was published in 1959. Throughout his career, Avedon continued to publish influential books, including Nothing Personal (1964), with an essay by James Baldwin; Portraits 1947–1977 (1978), with an essay by Harold Rosenberg; An Autobiography (1993); Evidence 1944–1994 (1994), with essays by Jane Livingston and Adam Gopnik; and The Sixties (1999), with interviews by Doon Arbus.