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Richard AvedonAmerican photographer
Date of Birth: 15.05.1923
Country: ![]() |
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Biography of Richard Avedon
Richard Avedon was an American photographer famous for his minimalist black-and-white portraits of celebrities. His obituary in The New York Times stated that his portrait and fashion photography helped define the American image of style, beauty, and culture over the last half-century.

Early Life and Career
Richard Avedon was born on May 15, 1923, in New York City, into a Russian-Jewish family. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, a boys-only school at the time, and worked on the school newspaper with future playwright and novelist James Baldwin. After high school, Richard briefly attended Columbia University but left to pursue a career in photography.

In 1942, Avedon became a photographer in the Merchant Marine, taking identification photos for the crew members with a Rolleiflex camera given to him by his father. In 1944, he secured a job as a commercial photographer at a major department store, which proved to be a stroke of luck as his work caught the eye of Alexey Brodovich, the art director of the fashion magazine Harper's Bazaar. Renowned photographer Lillian Bassman also played a significant role in Richard's career at Harper's Bazaar.

In 1946, Avedon established his own studio and began publishing photographs in various magazines, including Vogue and Life. He became the lead photographer for Harper's Bazaar. Avedon disliked the standard techniques of fashion photographers at the time, who wanted their models to remain indifferent and emotionless in front of the camera. Instead, he demanded more emotions from his models, encouraging laughter, smiles, and movement.
In 1966, Avedon left Harper's Bazaar to become a staff photographer at Vogue and quickly rose to become the chief photographer. From 1973 to 1985, he shot the majority of Vogue's covers. In addition to his fashion work, Avedon eagerly took on social projects, photographing patients in psychiatric hospitals, participants in the civil rights movement in 1963, protestors against the Vietnam War, and the fall of the Berlin Wall. He is also known for his two iconic photoshoots with The Beatles in 1967 and 1968, which were used for posters.
One of Avedon's notable projects was the series "In the American West," featuring portraits of ordinary miners, cowboys, fishermen, unemployed individuals, and teenagers that he encountered. In 1992, Avedon became the first staff photographer for The New Yorker. Throughout his career, he received numerous awards, including the Master of Photography award from the International Center of Photography, the Nadar award in 1994 for his book "Evidence," and the Royal Photographic Society's Medal in 2003.
Personal Life and Legacy
In 1944, Avedon married Dorcas Nowell, who later became a model under the name Doe Avedon, but they divorced five years later. In 1951, he married Evelyn Franklin, with whom he spent 53 years together. They had a son, John Avedon, who became a writer and Tibet specialist. Actor Lauren Avedon, known for his martial arts films, is Richard's nephew.
Richard Avedon passed away on October 1, 2004, from a brain hemorrhage in San Antonio, Texas, while working on a project for The New Yorker. At the time of his death, he was also working on a new project called "Democracy" about the 2004 U.S. presidential elections.