Richard Avedon

" if a day goes by without me doing something related to photography, it’s as though I’ve neglected something essential to my existence, as though I had forgotten to wake up" he said in 1970.

Was born in new york on may 15, 1923 of russian-jewish immigrant parents. He attended dewitt clinton high school in the bronx, but never completed an academic education. In 1940, at age 17, avedon dropped out of high school and joined the merchant marine's photographic section,taking personnel identification photos. Later, he went on several missions to photograph shipwrecks.Upon his return in 1944, he found a job as a photographer in a department store. Initially, avedon made his living primarily through work in advertising. As a staff photographer for harper's bazaar and later for vogue, avedon became well known for his stylisticallyinnovative fashion work, often set in vivid and surprising locales.

Although avedon first earned his reputation as a fashion photographer, his greatest achievement has been his reinvention of the genre of photographic portraiture.
His ability to express the essence of his subject. Avedon’s pictures continue to bring us a closer, more intimate view of the great and the famous.

Avedon died on october 1st, 2004 at age 81.

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Nació el 15 de mayo de 1923 en Nueva York, de una familia de inmigrantes ruso-judía. Asistió a la secundaria Dewitt clinton en bronx, pero nunca terminó sus estudios académicos. En 1940 a la edad de 17 años, Avedon abandonó la secundaria y se unió a la sección de fotografos de los marinos mercantiles, dedicandose a tomar fotografías de identificación personales de los marinos. Posteriormente asistió a distintas misiones para fotografiar naufragios. 

Después de su regreso en 1944, encontró trabajo como fotografo de una tienda departamental. Primero para Harper's bazaar y después para vogue, Avedon se dió a conocer por su estilo inovador en la moda, fijados a menudo en lugares vívidos y sorprendentes.

Aunque Avedon ganó su reputación como fotografo de moda, sus más grandes logros han sido su reinvención  del género de la fotografía de retrato y su habilidad de expresar la esencia del sujeto. Las fotografías de Avedon nos traen una más estrecha e íntima versión de las grandes y famosas personalidades.

Marcel Du Champ, artist, New York, January 31, 1958

Maurizio Cattelan, artist, New York, July 8 2004.

The beatles, London, August 11, 1967

Mrs. Comfort and A person unknown as Mr. comfort., New York, 1995.

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