Iconic seems too cursory a word to describe American photographer Richard Avedon, whose prolific visual output played a formative role in shaping America’s zeitgeist from the late 20th century onward. Less known than his indomitable portraits is the photographer’s body of film and video work, which he compiled throughout a remarkable six-decade career.
'I had always felt that there was a key component of Dick that was yet to be truly appreciated,' says preeminent makeup artist James Kaliardos – Avedon collaborator, Visionaire co-founder and the curator of the new exhibition 'Richard Avedon, Moving Image'. 'I feel like Avedon’s film work offers an insight into his process: he always wanted to really know his subjects and that was really my training as well. It was about revealing and igniting a person, not projecting onto them.'
The multisensory exhibition – on view at New York's Cadillac House – features 12 large digital screens, which play never before seen casting interviews, short films and the groundbreaking television commercials the photographer shot for clients such as Chanel and Calvin Klein. Proving that insouciance is far more powerful than hypersexuality, Avedon conveyed sensuality with a knowing wink. Certainly the most famous of his commercial work is the outrage-inducing 1980 advertisements for Calvin Klein Jeans, which featured a then 15-year-old Brooke Shields professing: 'What gets between me and my Calvins? Nothing.'
A Broadway aficionado, Avedon could deliver theatricality with his eyes closed – he portrays a pantomime of himself in the campy advertisements he shot with Lauren Hutton for Japanese brand Jun Ropé – but much of the footage is surprisingly affecting. In one Biba-esque video from 1973, Anjelica Huston laments her mother’s recent death; in an advertisement for Calvin Klein’s 'CK Be' fragrance – visually reminiscent of Avedon’s highly collectible In The American West series – model James Kind discusses a friend’s suicide.
Taken together, the films serve to underscore Avedon’s raison d’être as well as his enduring influence on today’s image-makers. 'Dick wasn’t interested in beauty for beauty’s sake,' says Kaliardos, a fashion authority in his own right who regularly worked with the photographer for the last ten years of his career. 'While he invented much of the vernacular of fashion photography as we now know it, he was emotionally invested in his subjects – famous or otherwise – and would spend a lot of time with them searching for a sense of their inner selves.'
A new multisensory exhibition – on view at New York's Cadillac House – features 12 large digital screens, which play never before seen casting interviews, short films and the groundbreaking television commercials the photographer shot for clients such as Chanel and Calvin Klein. Pictured: installation view.Courtesy Richard Avedon Foundation
'I had always felt that there was a key component of Dick that was yet to be truly appreciated,' says preeminent makeup artist James Kaliardos – Avedon collaborator, Visionaire co-founder and the curator of the new exhibition.
Taken together, the films serve to underscore Avedon’s raison d’être as well as his enduring influence on today’s image-makers.
INFORMATION
’Richard Avedon, Moving Image’ is on view at New York’s Cadillac House until 30 September. For more information, visit the Visionaire website
ADDRESS
Cadillac House
330 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10013
-
Out of office: The Wallpaper* editors' picks of the weekThe London office of Wallpaper* had a very important visitor this week. Elsewhere, the team traverse a week at Frieze
-
Alexandre de Betak on getting lost to find himself in LondonAs the world-renowned artistic director opens his first personal studio in London during Frieze Week, Alexandre de Betak reflects on leaving the fashion runway behind to explore light, space and creative freedom
-
Step inside Faye Toogood's intimate cabinet of curiosities at PAD LondonFor PAD London 2025, (until 19 October) Faye Toogood presents The Magpie’s Nest with Friedman Benda
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekAs we approach Frieze, our editors have been trawling the capital's galleries. Elsewhere: a 'Wineglass' marathon, a must-see film, and a visit to a science museum
-
June Leaf’s New York survey captures a life in motionJune Leaf made art in many forms for over seven decades, with an unstoppable energy and fierce appetite leading her to rationalise life in her own terms.
-
Jamel Shabazz’s photographs are a love letter to Prospect ParkIn a new book, ‘Prospect Park: Photographs of a Brooklyn Oasis, 1980 to 2025’, Jamel Shabazz discovers a warmer side of human nature
-
The Hammer Museum in Los Angeles launches the seventh iteration of its highly anticipated artist biennialOne of the gallery's flagship exhibitions, Made in LA showcases the breadth and depth of the city's contemporary art scene
-
Inside a Courtney Love-inspired art exhibition in New YorkLiza Jo Eilers looks to the glory days of Hole at an exhibition at Grimm New York
-
Thomas Prior’s photography captures the uncanny fragility of American lifeA new book unites two decades of the photographer’s piercing, uneasy work
-
Apple unveils its next-gen camera in a powerful new photography exhibitionThe new iPhone 17 Pro Max takes centre stage in a New York exhibition where artists Inez & Vinoodh, Mickalene Thomas, and Trunk Xu explore the theme of joy
-
Central Park’s revitalised Delacorte Theater gears up for a new futureEnnead Architects helmed an ambitious renovation process that has given the New York City cultural landmark a vibrant and more accessible future
