Richard Avedon - Photographs New York Monday, April 4, 2016 | Phillips

Photographs

New York Auction 4 April 2016 

  • Provenance

    Acquired directly from the artist

  • Literature

    Random House, Richard Avedon: Evidence 1944-1994, p. 133

  • Catalogue Essay

    In 1949 LIFE magazine invited Richard Avedon to produce images of New York that would accompany an entire issue dedicated to the city. While photographing Harlem, Central Park and the Lower East Side over six months, Avedon captured this stunning, understatedly elegant portrait offered here. On the photographer’s early New York images, Jane Livingston writes in Evidence: "Although obviously discovered along a route traveled by others, these photographs evince the indisputable perspective of his own eye. While relatively small in scale, the images imply a distinctive internal boldness..."

  • Artist Biography

    Richard Avedon

    American • 1923 - 2004

    From 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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229

Richard Avedon

Harlem, New York City, September 6

1949
Gelatin silver print, printed 1993.
19 3/4 x 16 in. (50.2 x 40.6 cm)
Signed, numbered 1/7 in pencil, title, date, copyright credit and Whitney Retrospective stamps on the verso.

Estimate
$7,000 - 9,000 

Sold for $10,000

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Photographs

New York Auction 4 April 2016