Richard Avedon - A Constant Pursuit: Photographs from the Collection of Ed Cohen & Victoria Shaw New York Thursday, October 4, 2018 | Phillips

Create your first list.

Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.

  • Provenance

    Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, 2001

  • Exhibited

    Richard Avedon: Evidence 1944-1994, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 18 March-26 June 1994

  • Literature

    Whitney Museum of American Art, Richard Avedon: Evidence 1944-1994, p. 142

  • Catalogue Essay

    "Where blind skyscrapers use
    Their full height to proclaim
    The strength of Collective Man.”
    W.H. Auden, September 1, 1939

  • 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

5

W. H. Auden, poet, St. Marks Place, New York City, March 3, 1960

Gelatin silver print, printed 1994.
23 1/2 x 18 7/8 in. (59.7 x 47.9 cm)
Signed, numbered 5/9 in pencil, copyright credit, title, date and 'Richard Avedon Retrospective 1944-1994' stamps on the verso.

Estimate
$15,000 - 25,000 

Sold for $75,000

Contact Specialist
Caroline Deck
Head of Sale, Senior Specialist

Vanessa Hallett
Worldwide Head of Photographs and Deputy Chairman, Americas

General Enquiries
+1 212 940 1245

A Constant Pursuit: Photographs from the Collection of Ed Cohen & Victoria Shaw

New York Auction 4 October 2018