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Avedon

Women

November 1–December 21, 2013
Beverly Hills

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Installation video

Installation view © The Richard Avedon Foundation, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view

© The Richard Avedon Foundation, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view © The Richard Avedon Foundation Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view

© The Richard Avedon Foundation Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view © The Richard Avedon Foundation Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view

© The Richard Avedon Foundation Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view © The Richard Avedon Foundation Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view

© The Richard Avedon Foundation Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view © The Richard Avedon Foundation Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view

© The Richard Avedon Foundation Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view © The Richard Avedon Foundation Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view

© The Richard Avedon Foundation Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view © The Richard Avedon Foundation Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view

© The Richard Avedon Foundation Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view © The Richard Avedon Foundation Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view

© The Richard Avedon Foundation Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view © The Richard Avedon Foundation Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view

© The Richard Avedon Foundation Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view © The Richard Avedon Foundation Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view

© The Richard Avedon Foundation Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view © The Richard Avedon Foundation Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view

© The Richard Avedon Foundation Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view © The Richard Avedon Foundation Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Installation view

© The Richard Avedon Foundation Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Works Exhibited

Richard Avedon, Volpi Ball, Venice, Italy, August 31, 1991, 1991 Gelatin silver print, 48 ¾ × 42 inches (123.8 × 106.7 cm), edition of 5© The Richard Avedon Foundation

Richard Avedon, Volpi Ball, Venice, Italy, August 31, 1991, 1991

Gelatin silver print, 48 ¾ × 42 inches (123.8 × 106.7 cm), edition of 5
© The Richard Avedon Foundation

Richard Avedon, Penelope Tree, evening dress by Lanvin, Paris, January 1968, 1981 Gelatin silver print, 24 × 20 inches (61 × 50.8 cm), edition of 50© The Richard Avedon Foundation

Richard Avedon, Penelope Tree, evening dress by Lanvin, Paris, January 1968, 1981

Gelatin silver print, 24 × 20 inches (61 × 50.8 cm), edition of 50
© The Richard Avedon Foundation

Richard Avedon, Cheryl Crane, daughter of Lana Turner, Hollywood, California, September 30, 1963, 1963 Gelatin silver print, 20 × 16 inches (50.8 × 61 cm), edition of 7© The Richard Avedon Foundation

Richard Avedon, Cheryl Crane, daughter of Lana Turner, Hollywood, California, September 30, 1963, 1963

Gelatin silver print, 20 × 16 inches (50.8 × 61 cm), edition of 7
© The Richard Avedon Foundation

Richard Avedon, Elsa Maxwell, columnist, New York, December 11, 1957, 1957 Gelatin silver print, 11 × 14 inches (27.9 × 35.6 cm), edition of 3© The Richard Avedon Foundation

Richard Avedon, Elsa Maxwell, columnist, New York, December 11, 1957, 1957

Gelatin silver print, 11 × 14 inches (27.9 × 35.6 cm), edition of 3
© The Richard Avedon Foundation

Richard Avedon, Anna Magnani, actress, New York, April 17, 1953, 1953 Gelatin silver print, 20 × 16 inches (50.8 × 40.6 cm), edition of 5© The Richard Avedon Foundation

Richard Avedon, Anna Magnani, actress, New York, April 17, 1953, 1953

Gelatin silver print, 20 × 16 inches (50.8 × 40.6 cm), edition of 5
© The Richard Avedon Foundation

About

I function more as an editor. In other words, I could draw people out, maybe in the way a director does with a performer. And bring them into the circle of creative work.
—Richard Avedon

Gagosian is pleased to announce Avedon: Women, an exhibition that spans six decades of Richard Avedon’s photography. This is the first solo exhibition of Avedon's work in the Los Angeles area since 1976.

From the beginning of his career as a fashion photographer in the 1940s, Avedon was renowned for his distinctive and transformative imagery of women. His inventiveness, humor, and versatile talent flourished throughout sixty years of capturing both well-known and anonymous female subjects, ranging from celebrities and models to his friends and family. His images were imbued with an unconventional beauty and formidable intelligence.

More than 100 silver gelatin photographs form the core of the exhibition. Ranging from oversized exhibition prints dating from the artist’s 1978 showing at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, to more intimately scaled photographs that he printed and editioned throughout his lifetime, the exhibition emphasizes the striking visual connections that lie beyond chronology or subject matter. It opens with a portrait of Cheryl Crane, the daughter of actress Lana Turner, who Avedon photographed in 1963 after she was exonerated for the killing of her mother’s abusive boyfriend. A 1959 portrait of Brigitte Bardot, printed on a monumental scale, presents her as serious and mysterious. In counterpoint is the large-scale print of artist June Leaf (1975), equally beautiful in her earthy understatedness. A salon-style hanging juxtaposes images such as the elegant Vicomtesse Jacqueline de Ribes (1955) and socialite Elsa Maxwell, lying in bed with her pet skunk (1957).

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