Richard Avedon - Photographer

[May]

RIP, Richard.

 

[Eddie Wang]

All I know is that this is one sh*tty year. From Newton dying earlier on this year, now Avedon. What a tragic year. Two of the most influential fashion photographers of our times have pass away. But as the cycle will go on and new photographers will arise. Who's the next greatest?

 

[softgrey]

penn will go next...and then polly mellen...

 

[Amélie]

we've lost a lot of photographers in recent times...so sad, i wonder if his final work, the democracy project for the election thing, will be released...i certainly hope so, it sound very thought provoking...

 

[starved]

Don't really know where I was when he died since I just found out now. He was one of my favorite photographers. Thought I'd post some pictures.

 

[starved]

Beautiful

 

[starved]

 

[starved]

Sorry I can't post my two favorite pictures, they are too big

 

[softgrey]

audrey wearing balmain...1959...
dior's new look...1947...dior...1956...


...some of my faves...

 

[softgrey]

the very famous photo with the elephants...which of course inspired the new spread in W magazine...

wearing dior...1955

 

[softgrey]

model penelope tree...1967...
cher...1975
galliano...(remember when he was good?)...

 

[softgrey]

galliano...
chanel...

 

[softgrey]

avedon...

 

[cranmel]

Amazing pictures ... keep them coming guys!

 

[czilla]

Richard Avedon

A number of his pictures have already been posted in the memorial threads, but I came across this article in the New Yorker and thought it was a wallop of an overview... especially since it was published in 1958!
A Woman Entering A Taxi In the Rain
by Winthrop Sargeant

The gaunt, skinny, praying-mantis model—an image calculated to frighten most males out of their wits—was a caricature of her sex, a fierce, denying goddess. Presumably she sold the clothes that she wore, for that was her expensive purpose, but her chic was exclusively that of the limited world of high fashion, where any suggestion of womanliness was banished as vulgar. She was as vivacious as a marble statue and as appealing as a mummy—an overt symbol of the death that all good fashion designers, according to the psychiatrists, unconsciously wish to visit on womankind.

About twelve years ago, this approach to fashion photography began to be subtly undermined by a sprightly and ingenious photographer for Harper’s Bazaar named Richard Avedon. As far as he was concerned, the statues and mummies went out the window. The model became pretty, rather than austerely aloof. She laughed, danced, skated, gambolled among herds of elephants, sang in the rain, ran breathlessly down the Champs-Elysées, smiled and sipped cognac at café tables, and otherwise gave evidence of being human. Whether she thereby sold more clothes is open to question. [...] A good deal of this accomplishment can be attributed to his imagination and resourcefulness in handling a camera, but some of it undoubtedly stems from the fact that his primary interest is not in fashion but in women.

aw shucks. <3 avedon. It's interesting to pinpoint the introduction of laughing, smiling, gamboling and elephant cuddling model but I wonder how many people would even alter their description of current models from the "praying-mantis, denying goddesses" initially described... I'm a fan of the fierce ones, but I look at backstage candids to see Tiuu or Gemma giggling. Most editorials don't steep themselves in "pretty," but still persist in presenting those awe inspiring images. I guess we tip our hats to Avedon for first introducing fun loving diversity?

for Avedon pics already posted to TFS...
Memorial Thread 1 , 2

 

[softgrey]

two memorial threads merged...

july 67 vogue cover-twiggy

 

[softgrey]

i've merged the two memorial threads so that we just have one source for avedon images...

you will find them all here now..please feel free to add...
http://www.thefashionspot.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9281&page=1&pp=25

 

[softgrey]

1956...audrey hepburn...

 

[helena]

thanks softgrey - love the pic of coco chanel (she looks so weird) & the Audrey cover (I have never seen that image before).

 

[softgrey]

you're welcome helena...

april 1968...cover and editorial w. jean shrimpton...