Richard Avedon, America’s pre-eminent portraitist and fashion photographer, portrayed significant figures of the American political landscape throughout his career. This exhibition brings together Avedon’s work on the subjects of politics and power for the first time. Juxtaposing more than 200 images of government, media, business, and labor officials with photographs of artists, activists, and ordinary citizens caught up in national debates, Richard Avedon: Portraits of Power explores a five-decade photographic inquiry by one of our finest artists.
IMAGE: Jerome Smith and Isaac Reynolds, civil rights workers, New York, December 10, 1963. Photograph Richard Avedon. From the collection of Stephen G. Stein. © 2008 The Richard Avedon Foundation.