I remember seeing this book on its release in the 1980s. I couldn't afford it at the time, but I never forgot those images. Looking at them again, I can see the re-release of this group of Richard Avedon's work was fully justified.
These portraits are raw - each man, woman and child is exposed. Avedon recognised that each of the individuals in these portraits were an entity unto themselves. Their lives are in their faces; there is no need for props or pictorial backgrounds. Everyone was photographed against a simple sheet of white paper - a groundbreaking approach for this genre at the time. No staging, nothing concealed, nothing enhanced and there is no evidence of tweeking.
These photos distressed the romantic notion of 'the west' that prevailed until the late 1980s, and in turn contributed to its redefinition in popular culture. I still find myself looking at these pictures over and over again, wondering about the fate of some of these folks. This is another benefit of a book like this - it poses questions which cannot be easily answered - what happened to these people?
I'm so very thankful I got myself a copy. If you, like myself, are working on building a photography book collection, then this is an essential addition.
- Hardcover: 172 pages
- Publisher: Harry N. Abrams; 1st edition (1985)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0810911051
- ISBN-13: 978-0810911055
- Product Dimensions: 11.5 x 1 x 14.2 inches
- Shipping Weight: 4.6 pounds
- Average Customer Review: 26 customer reviews
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Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#1,172,501 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1658 in Photo Essays (Books)
- #1658 in Portrait Photography
- #2663 in Individual Photographers
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