richard Avedon

Posted by Fabio 14 April 2011

In 1969 American photographer Richard Avedon (May 15, 1923 – October 1, 2004) made these photographs of his father during the last seven years of his father’s life.

A photographic portrait is a picture of someone who knows he’s being photographed, and what he does with this knowledge is as much a part of the photograph as what he’s wearing or how he looks. He’s implicated in what’s happening, and he as a certain real power over the result. Lisette Model told me she felt these photographs of my father were “performances”, and I agree with her. We all perform. It’s what we do for each other all the time, deliberately or unintentionally. _Richard Avedon