Photographer Richard Avedon’s Incisive Portraits

July 15, 2009 · Leave a Comment

The new retrospective show of photographer Richard Avedon’s work now open at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) emphasizes just how incisive his portraits were.

When an artist dies, whether Michael Jackson or Richard Avedon, his oeuvre is complete. The next step is assembling all the artifacts and assessing their importance.

Avedon’s work from 1946-2004 was vitally important for several reasons.

He flourished in the era of the great magazines, when there were lavish budgets to support writers and photographers. Those of us who remember that era view it with some nostalgia. Avedon found his niche at Harper’s Bazaar and elsewhere. He had an outlet for his work. He was paid well. The magazine also delivered an audience to the artist.

Avedon worked for a long time, from 1946 until his death in 2004. He was especially active in the 1960s and 1970s, creating many of the defining portraits of the time. He photographed the heroes and villains, from John Kennedy to George Wallace, with equal passion. The turmoil of the era provided an animating intensity to Avedon’s work.

He photographed many of the major movers and shakers of the era, but he also catalogued fashion. And he photographed the common people, especially when one Texas patron gave him a multi-year mandate to photograph the working eople of the Southwest. The breadth of his work in this show is quite stunning.

Avedon had a defining style, which you can see over and over in his portraits, applied with the same intensity to the elite of society and to the common people.

An Avedon portrait has some special characteristics.

It is black and white, of course, which has its own aesthetic. Since we live in a world of total color today, black and white as a medium has a certain theatrical quality, the appropriate technique of an earlier era. We view an Avedon portrait as we would an Ansel Adams landscape photo.

Usually he shoots a person’s head and torso rather than just the head. This brings the full body of the subject into the image. One could say that body language often is a critical factor.

The background is, typically, seamless white paper. Avedon simplifies the background, making the subject’s face and torso the full defining subject, omitting the ambiance or environment around the subject. The subjects are isolated and monumental, alone, cut off from their defining milieu, reflecting on themselves.

The subject is focused on the photographer or on some inner musing, but it is focused. These are not candid or casual photos. His subjects have no compelling need to smile or please. This is not slice of life. There is a seriousness about the enterprise. The subject seems to realize his will be a record of the times.

When Avedon prints the portrait, he includes the black photo border, the limit of the film. This has the effect of indicating the image is a highly deliberate artifact, not a casual or cropped look.

Looking at this huge retrospective show can be a remarkable educational experience. It reminded me of my own life and the cast of the characters who have defined our time, from Dwight Eisenhower and Marilyn Monroe and the Beatles to more recent subjects. It also reminded me of the dignified humanity of many common people of the Southwest, such as a snake skinner or a coal miner or a physical therapist. All the human subjects, great and common, are invested with a similar respect and gravitas.

This particular massive show of Avedon’s work was assembled by an art museum in Denmark with an unusual name, Louisiana. I have been to that Danish museum. It seems like an unlikely sponsor, but such is the nature of art exhibitions. San Francisco is the only U.S. location for this show. When the show closes at SFMOMA on November 29, the photos will begin touring in Europe.

When the art of portraiture is discussed in the long history of photography, Richard Avedon’s legacy will enjoy a special prominence.

For further details on the Richard Avedon show at SFMOMA, see http://www.sfmoma.org.