Born in New York City to a mother and father who worked in the fashion industry as a dress manufacturer and an owner of a fashion store Avedon took a great interest in fashion from an early age.
Best known for his work in the fashion world and for his minimalist, large-scale character-revealing portraits Avedon first worked as a photographer for the Merchant Marines, taking identification photos. He then moved to fashion, shooting for Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue, demanding that his models convey emotion and movement, a departure from the norm of motionless fashion photography that was prominent at the time.
in 1955, Avedon made fashion and photography history when he staged a photo shoot at a circus. The iconic photograph of that shoot, “Dovima with Elephants,” features the model in a black Dior evening gown with a long white silk sash wrapped around her waist that drapes to the ground. Posing between two elephants, her back arched as she holds on to the trunk of one elephant while reaching out toward the other.
In addition to his fashion photography, he was also well known for his black-and-white portraits that were remarkable when it came to capturing the humanity and vulnerability within famous figures that included Marilyn Monroe, Dr Martin Luther King, Bob Dylan and The Beatles.
Discover more about Richard Avedon and other masters of photography in Fashion Industry broadcast’s Masters of Photography Vol. 11 Immortals: Immortals of Photography here.
