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In the American West
In the American West
May 13, 2025
Richard Avedon: Sandra Bennett, twelve years old, Rocky Ford, Colorado, August 23, 1980
© The Richard Avedon Foundation
In 1979, the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas, commissioned Richard Avedon to capture his view of the American West. Over the next five years, the photographer travelled to 17 states (including Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Utah and Wyoming), conducting hundreds of portrait sittings. But instead of the celebrities, models and politicians who usually posed in front of Avedon’s camera, this time he trained his lens on everyday Americans: from miners, beekeepers and ranchers to show-people and drifters – all of them captured against a seamless white backdrop to accentuate their faces, postures and expressions without a reference to a specific time or place.
The resulting book, published in 1985 and comprising 103 powerful images, became a defining milestone both in Avedon’s career and in the history of portrait photography. The exhibition at the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, which was organised in collaboration with the Richard Avedon Foundation, celebrates the book’s 40th anniversary, and marks the first time the entire series is presented in a European venue.
In addition to the master prints used for the book, the showcase also includes previously unpublished archive materials that illustrate the stages of its production – including preliminary Polaroids, test prints with Avedon’s handwriting, and correspondence between the photographer and his protagonists.
On display until October 12, 2025
Katrin UllmannThe resulting book, published in 1985 and comprising 103 powerful images, became a defining milestone both in Avedon’s career and in the history of portrait photography. The exhibition at the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, which was organised in collaboration with the Richard Avedon Foundation, celebrates the book’s 40th anniversary, and marks the first time the entire series is presented in a European venue.
In addition to the master prints used for the book, the showcase also includes previously unpublished archive materials that illustrate the stages of its production – including preliminary Polaroids, test prints with Avedon’s handwriting, and correspondence between the photographer and his protagonists.
On display until October 12, 2025
Richard Avedon: Sandra Bennett, twelve years old, Rocky Ford, Colorado, August 23, 1980
© The Richard Avedon Foundation
Richard Avedon: David Beason, shipping clerk, Denver, Colorado, July 25, 1981
© The Richard Avedon Foundation
Richard Avedon: Ruby Mercer, publicist, Frontier Days, Cheyenne, Wyoming, July 31, 1982
© The Richard Avedon Foundation
Richard Avedon: Petra Alvarado, factory worker, on her birthday, El Paso, Texas, April 22, 1982
© The Richard Avedon Foundation
Richard Avedon: Ronald Fischer, beekeeper, Davis, California, May 9, 1981
© The Richard Avedon Foundation
Richard Avedon:Boyd Fortin, thirteen-year-old rattlesnake skinner, Sweetwater, Texas, March 10, 1979
© The Richard Avedon Foundation