I was lucky enough to be in New York City recently during “AVEDON 100”, which is a photography exhibition of some of Richard Avedon’s greatest work.

It’s on display until July 7th, 2023 at one of the two Gagosian Galleries in the Chelsea district of Manhattan. Although Avedon passed away in 2004, while on an assignment for The New Yorker magazine, this exhibition commemorates his 100th birthday.

I have always been a big fan of Avedon’s craft and he was a great inspiration to me when I was first starting out in photography. His candid and revealing (mostly B&W) portraits of celebrities and other well known figures, as well as his fashion photography from Paris dating back to the mid 1940s, spans a period of over 5 decades.

This exhibition opened on May 4th and there are over 150 images on display with some of them printed in a very large mural-sized format. The selection of works chosen for this exhibition was also curated by over 150 people, including prominent artists, designers, musicians, writers, etc.

I recognized a lot of the exhibition images from the large format books of his that I have and from seeing his portrait work published periodically over the years in The New Yorker magazine. But to finally see some of his shots as large prints, and hung on proper gallery walls, was momentous.

One of his most inspiring bodies of work for me was a series of 24 color images that was staged as an unconventional fashion editorial. He shot this work in the mid 90’s at an abandoned country club property on Long Island and it was titled “In Memory of The Late Mr. and Mrs. Comfort”.

It was was deemed a fable depicting surreal, dream-like images of a beautiful German model/actress named Nadja Auermann who was envisioned with a full sized human skeleton as her husband. I see it as a juxtaposition of life and death and it was nice to see all of the images from this series properly framed and displayed together as a complete body of work.

A portion of his portrait series titled “In The American West” – depicting disheveled people across the Western states of America – is also on display. It’s a bit of a controversial subject as he was often criticized for not showing all types of Americans across the West, rather than just the troubled looking figures that feature in his book.

One of the aspects of his work that I always appreciated was how he often shot his subjects in B&W using medium format cameras, and together with a long cable release as he stood off to the side of the camera so that he could speak with his subjects and relax them during the tenseness of the moment. Plus, he often used a plain, light gray backdrop, no fancy lighting and, thus his portrait artistry really came down to how well he was able to capture the moment and his subject’s raw emotions.

Although his entire exhibition is staged at a commercial gallery in Chelsea, I would say that it’s of museum quality. My only disappointment is that a few of the smaller framed images were hung too high up on the walls for me to view them properly.

Also, all of the images were framed with highly reflective glass, which is unfortunate. Probably to avoid people touching the prints, but perhaps also as copyright protection by preventing people from taking clear, non-reflective photographs of the prints.

If you will be in New York City during these next 2 weeks then I highly recommend visiting the exhibition. It is free to the public and definitely a memorable opportunity to see some of his most iconic work in print.

More details about the exhibition, the venue, the exact location and the opening hours can be found on the Gagosian Gallery’s website here.

There is also an interesting 1.5 hour film documentary that was made about him nearly 30 years ago called “Richard Avedon: Darkness & Light”. It was part of the PBS American Masters series and directed by Helen Whitney.

The film, released in 1996, provides a comprehensive exploration of Avedon’s career, featuring interviews with Avedon himself, as well as his collaborators, subjects, and peers. It delves into his unique approach to fashion and portrait photography, his artistic vision, and his impact on the field. It also offers insights into Avedon’s creative process and sheds light on his significant contributions to photography as an art form. You can find and watch the film on YouTube if your interested.