PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED CALIFORNIA COLLECTION
29
Richard Avedon
Nastassja Kinski and the Serpent, Los Angeles, California, June 14
- Estimate
- $60,000 - 80,000
$118,750
Lot Details
Gelatin silver print.
1981
32 x 49 in. (81.3 x 124.5 cm)
Signed and numbered 184/200 in pencil on the verso.
Specialist
Full-Cataloguing
Catalogue Essay
“When you look at the photograph it all looks so easy... she spent two hours on a cement floor naked. The [snake] trainer would start anchoring the snake with her ankles and see where the snake would go... hoping that the snake, cause there is no talking to the snake, would creep up in a way that was beautiful.”
-Richard Avedon
Please reference the beginning of the afternoon session (lot 140) for an essay on this collection.
-Richard Avedon
Please reference the beginning of the afternoon session (lot 140) for an essay on this collection.
Provenance
Literature
Richard Avedon
American | B. 1923 D. 2004From the inception of Richard Avedon's career, first at Harper's Bazaar and later at Vogue, Avedon challenged the norms for editorial photography. His fashion work gained recognition for its seemingly effortless and bursting energy, while his portraits were celebrated for their succinct eloquence. "I am always stimulated by people," Avedon has said, "almost never by ideas." Indeed, as seen in his portraits — whether of famed movie stars or everyday people — the challenge for Avedon was conveying the essence of his subjects. His iconic images were usually taken on an 8 x 10 inch camera in his studio with a plain white background and strobe lighting, creating his signature minimalist style. Avedon viewed the making and production of photographs as a performance similar to literature and drama, creating portraits that are simultaneously intensely clear, yet deeply mysterious.
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