The Theatrical Act of Richard Avedon
Richard Avedon, The Generals of the Daughters of the American Revolution (1963)
Avedon 100 is a theatrical act.
At Gagosian, the exhibition celebrated centenary of Avedon’s birth is designed into 3 layers of wall, looking from corner of the gallery, it looks like a castle of a legendary who conquer every subject in photography lives, hundreds of notable people portrait printed larger-than-life, all the creative, initiative, fun fashion set for big magazines, the portraits of workers portray glamorously against shining aluminum mount. It’s evoking, dramatic, overwhelming, admirable all at the same time. With white photo detail that blend into white wall, they’re all equal as photographs, no big name needed.
Avedon photography itself is a theater, people act in front of the camera on white background, their expression and gesture is the only thing that gets the spotlight. And the exhibition hailed that theatrical aspect of his work by installation design and sizing.
Avedon 100 at Gagosian Gallery, New York (photo by Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet)
Installation design by Stefan Beckman, and curated by Kara Vander Weg and Derek Blasberg lets the audience explore Avedon’s work in an uncategorized yet organized way. He creates the illusion of walls within space, making the audience feel like they are not walking, but wandering through a hall of archives.
The outer and second layers are genre-mix, fashion, portraits, family, friends, selfie. What differentiate is the core ideal of photographs in each layer. The first one tends to show us his work ethos, “the real nature of the sitter (is created by) manipulating that surface — gesture, costume, expression — radically and correctly.” The way of grouping photos is pointing out how natural people can be in front of his camera and overall is the variety of emotion he can create.
The second layer is about the idea of beauty. When got ask about what kind of women appeal to him, Avedon answered “Generous, intelligent women with a sense of humor and the ability to make me laugh. Women with a strong character.”. The photographs seem to follow that kind of ideal.
And the black-wall room inside the second layer is a sanctuary for workers from his landmark project, in the American West. Aiming to rival his friend, Diane Arbus, Avedon tried hard to achieve the intimacy and deepness Arbus could do. It can never overcome the sense of togetherness in our dearest sicko Arbus’s but surely the project stands out on its own.
The other theatrical factor is size. Photographs are enormous, mostly human-size. Avedon is always attentive to his print size, and most of the prints shown in the exhibition is lended from the print edition he or his foundation made when he was still alive. The size is a crucial matter because being able to see and feel the details of a person's characteristics though body language is key to his work, and he enlarges that action through sizing.
Avedon 100 at Gagosian Gallery, New York
But as theater always is. It’s never true. Richard Avedon himself knows this well as he mentioned that sitting for a portrait is performance several times. He even said once “All photographs are accurate. None of them is truth.”
Good portrait is accurate because it’s self-reference, both from what subject projected and photographer’s point of view. But the truth is not projecting, it is not how much manipulation a photographer could stir the surface, or how natural someone could act in front of a camera. Truth likely appears when there was no camera, or else, when the camera was engaged.
Of course there is a sneaking of truth inside the exhibition. The first case, Marilyn Monroe’s photograph behind the reception desk, she sat exhausted in the corner at the end of the day, unable to act anymore. The Generals of the Daughters of the American Revolution’s photograph, hung inside the exhibition, showing chaos between sets. The medium size photograph of father and son at Santa Monica Beach unaware of the camera.
Richard Avedon, Marilyn Monroe (1957)
The second case happened only to his father, 3 sets of Jacob Israel Avedon, Avedon’s father, hanged together on the wall, letting us see him from wearing his suit and tie until his last day in hospital gown. The look on his face never changes, suspicion and resistance, as Arthur Lubow stated in his article in The New York Times that “He (Jacob Israel Avedon) is permitting that manipulation. He is not acting. He is engaging.” and “(The picture) Weighted with a disturbing gravity. They get at a human truth he usually avoided”
Avedon 100 is a theatrical act.
There are lavish sets. There are summarized versions of human beings. There are gazes to both boiled down and diluted emotions. And there are even things Avedon denies all his life that don't exist in front of his camera, glimpses of the weighted moment of truth.
Richard Avedon, Jacob Israel Avedon (1969-1973)
