Above: China Machado, suit by Ben Zuckerman, hair by Kenneth, New York, November 6, 1958
Some artists are so influential that their contributions are at risk of being taken for granted. Picasso comes to mind, as do Warhol, Rauschenberg, and Johns. In the realm of photography, Richard Avedon fits the bill. From embracing movement and the outdoors in fashion shoots (a practical solution to being without studio space in Paris) to staging portraits in front of stark white backdrops, his aesthetic choices have become ubiquitous among generations of followers.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of Avedon’s birth, and he’s being treated to quite the party. The festivities kicked off in January with the opening of a Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition of his monumental murals, stretching up to 35 feet wide, which will be on view through October 1. In May, Gagosian is mounting Avedon 100, featuring 150 works by the photographer, at its West 21st Street gallery in New York. To curate the show, the gallery invited creatives—artists, models, actors, designers, scholars, former Avedon staffers, and such—to each choose a favorite image from his prolific oeuvre. And on May 1 and 2, several iconic Avedon images will be among the highlights at the first in a series of Sotheby’s auctions of the Pilara Family Foundation’s acclaimed Pier 24 collection.
The initial concept at Gagosian was to designate 100 selectors, one for each year of his centenary. “The enthusiasm was so great once we started asking people, we soon realized we were going to have more than 100 [yeses],” says senior director Kara Vander Weg. “We thought, why not?”
An accompanying book offers participants’ thoughts on their choices, from artist Jenny Saville’s take on a close-up of Warhol’s gunshot-scarred torso to Hillary Clinton’s reminiscence of Avedon’s suggestion that she swap her trademark suit jacket for his own cozy sweater. The breadth of selections mirrors Avedon’s reach: Dovima with elephants, arguably the most famous fashion photograph ever, is there, as are portraits of Audrey Hepburn and other movie stars, socialites, and athletes, but so are works from Avedon’s critically celebrated “In the American West” project and his lesser-known 1940s “New York Life” series, including #8, of an adorable little boy charging up some Harlem steps—Vander Weg’s pick. “He embodies the beautiful spirit of a New Yorker,” she tells Robb Report. “He looks tiny and ferocious to me, and I love that.”
A few images will appear at both Gagosian and Sotheby’s, including a stirring 1963 portrait of the lined and weathered William Casby, who at the time was one of the last living American born enslaved. Avedon was known for standing beside, not behind, the camera in order to create intimacy with his subjects. “The tight crop focuses on Casby’s face, where you can see all the details,” says Emily Bierman, Sotheby’s global head of photographs. “His eyes are piercing, looking into your soul, really.” Or, at least, into Avedon’s.
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