Richard Avedon - Photographs New York Thursday, October 4, 2018 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Private Collection, Los Angeles

  • Literature

    Harper’s Bazaar, September 1955, p. 215
    Avedon & Brodkey, Avedon Photographs, 1947-1977, back cover and pl. 159
    Avedon, Woman in the Mirror, p. 36
    Fraenkel Gallery, Richard Avedon: Made in France, n.p.
    Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Avedon Fashion: 1944-2000, p. 137
    Random House, Evidence, 1944-1994: Richard Avedon, p. 53
    Bailey & Harrison, Shots of Style: Great Fashion Portraits, cat. no. 7
    Davis, An American Century of Photography, From Dry-Plate to Digital: The Hallmark Photographic Collection, pl. 368
    Gee, Photography of the Fifties: An American Perspective, p. 84
    Hall-Duncan, The History of Fashion Photography, p. 137
    Harrison, Appearances: Fashion Photography since 1945, p. 73
    High Museum of Art, Chorus of Light: Photographs from the Sir Elton John Collection, p. 189
    J. Paul Getty Museum, Icons of Style: A Century of Fashion Photography, pl. 111
    Mazzola, 125 Great Moments of Harper’s Bazaar, pl. 3
    Taschen, 20th Century Photography: Museum Ludwig Cologne, p. 29
    The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion, p. 50

  • Catalogue Essay

    "The way I see is comparable to the way musicians hear, something extrasensory. Not judgmental. I don’t differentiate between an idea of what is beautiful and what is not. What I see is a reaffirmation of the many things I need to feel." Richard Avedon

  • 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.

    View More Works

203

Dovima with elephants, Evening dress by Dior, Cirque d’Hiver, Paris, August

1955
Gelatin silver print, printed later.
23 x 18 1/4 in. (58.4 x 46.4 cm)
Signed, numbered 36/50 in ink, title, date, edition and copyright credit reproduction limitation stamps on the reverse of the linen flush-mount.

Estimate
$60,000 - 80,000 

Sold for $87,500

Contact Specialist
Sarah Krueger
Head of Department, Photographs

Vanessa Hallett
Worldwide Head of Photographs and Deputy Chairman, Americas

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Photographs

New York Auction 4 October 2018