Richard Avedon

D.O.B- 15/05/1953
Place of birth- New York, America
Occupation- Photographer

• Of Jewish decent.
• His interest in photography began when he joined a Hebrew boys photography club at 12.
• His muse and sister was schizophrenic which lead him to work largely in the field of tragic beauty when he was older.
• Worked as an advertising photographer for a department store in 1944.
• Joined the photography staff of Vogue in 1962.
• Worked extensively with Brooke Shields in both TV advertisement and print advertisement.
• In the 1960's Alvedon branched into the photography of civil rights workers as well as politicians whilst continuing his fashion career.

This portrait of Marilyn Monroe shows the Avedon's recognised talent amongst the photography community due to the fact that Monroe was a big name celebrity at this time.  The tonal range between the dark dress and Monroe's light skin and hair creates an interesting contrast in the image, shadows on Monroe's face also give the image a sense of depth and form.

The eccentricity of the outfit photographed in this image means that it must have been a part of Alvedon's high fashion work.  The intriguing and fluid composition of the subjects is extremely eye catching and the various levels of form guide the viewers eye from the top to the bottom of the image.

This image be Alvedon is interesting to me as the costuming of the subject through the use of makeup to enlarge the eyes, the short hair cut and knitted sweated creates an image of youthfulness and innocence.  The close up shot of the face also provides a detailed view of the subjects face and the shadows help to give definition to the subjects face and create a tonal range and contrast throughout the image.

Influence on my work 

Avedon's use of stark tonal contrast in his portraiture has lead me to explore this element in several of my pieces in areas including portraiture.