Richard Avedon: Portraits of Power

[David Brown]

http://www.corcoran.org/Avedon/

I was in Washington DC last week and took advantage of the Corcoran Gallery's late evening hours on Thursday. If you are a fan of Avedon, this show will delight. If you don't particularly like what he did, this show may kill you.

Seriously, there are over 200 prints in this show, and that many images at one time from anyone can be a bit of sensory overload. But, this show shows the evolution of his style over his lifetime, through the portraits he did of "powerful" people, i.e., people you could (or should) recognize. Go see it if you are in the area.

 

[wilsonneal]

What size are most of the prints, David? Are these the giant wall size, larger than life prints? I would make a special trip to see those again.
Neal

 

[David Brown]

There's everthing. 8x10 contact prints. Enlargements from Rollie negs, and the enlargements from 8x10 that ranged from 16x20 (inches) up to 6x8 foot!

 

[JCT]

I was in DC on business and caught the show earlier today.

It was excellent -- it was particularly nice to see his style and approach change throughout his career, I think that even folks who were not enamored of his work would find something to like.

There are 3 independent shots of George Wallace taken over an ~ 30 year time span in different parts of the gallery. Riveting display of the dissolution of the man over the years.

JT