Nov, 19, 2024
Photography
New Richard Avedon Exhibition to Debut at Phoenix Art Museum in December 2024
Richard Avedon: Among Creatives showcases photographs capturing the vulnerability of Marilyn Monroe, Marian Anderson, Paul McCartney and other celebrity subjects, creative icons
PHOENIX, AZ (November 19, 2024) – This December, Phoenix Art Museum (PhxArt) will present the work of one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century in Richard Avedon: Among Creatives. Drawn from the collection of the Center for Creative Photography (CCP) in Tucson, the exhibition presents more than 50 photographs by Richard Avedon (1923-2004), highlighting his distinctive large-scale portraits of fellow artists, actors, writers, and more, in addition to his contributions to fashion photography. Richard Avedon: Among Creatives will be on view at the Museum from December 6 – May 25, 2025.
“We are excited to share this intimate perspective of Richard Avedon’s work with our audiences,” said Jeremy Mikolajczak, the Sybil Harrington Director and CEO of Phoenix Art Museum. “Avedon is one of the most prominent portrait photographers of the 20th century, and due to his work in fashion, Hollywood and the art world, he is an artist that many people are familiar with. Among Creatives, however, is a fascinating study on the ways artists weave intricate webs of influence and inspiration among themselves, and how Avedon was able to capture such complex relationships and identities in a single, still image.”
Born in New York and with an early interest in photography, Avedon first gained prominence as a fashion photographer by working for Harper’s Bazaar magazine. As the scope of his career broadened, he trained his lens on many of the most influential figures of his time, among them fellow creatives from the fields of art, music, literature, film, and design. Through Avedon’s unflinching eye and technical prowess, the appearances and expressions of these celebrity subjects became amplified for public scrutiny, encouraging viewers to consider the gaps between their private lives and the public personas that had come to define them.
Distilled from the exhibition Richard Avedon: Relationships, previously presented at the Palazzo Reale in Milan and Kunsthal Rotterdam, Among Creatives examines how Avedon portrayed fellow artists. The exhibition of more than 50 works spans his career, showcasing portraits as well as examples of Avedon’s fashion photography in conversation with archival magazine materials that demonstrate how these images were used commercially. The exhibition begins with Avedon’s self-portrait before moving into a series of portraits featuring celebrities that Avedon photographed across multiple stages in their lives, including Marilyn Monroe and Carson McCullers. Other portraits include those of Andy Warhol, John Ford, Allen Ginsberg, Brigitte Bardot, Marlene Dietrich, and Paul McCartney, and models such as Dovima, Veruschka, and Penelope Tree, among others.
“By pairing Avedon’s fashion work with his portraits of fellow creative people, Among Creatives explores how a leading artist of his generation portrayed the concept, meaning, and perception of artistry,” said Emilia Mickevicius, the Norton Family Assistant Curator of Photography at Phoenix Art Museum and the Center for Creative Photography. “The exhibition’s work encourages viewers to see Avedon’s subjects, alongside the ways Avedon himself is grappling with his own fame, morality, and legacy. I hope viewers will leave the show with a new appreciation of his work—how he was deeply skilled at directing the people he photographed, and how he was a true master of his tools and materials.”
High-resolution photography for Richard Avedon: Among Creatives can be downloaded here. To request interviews, contact the Communications Office of Phoenix Art Museum at 602.257.2117 or samantha.santos@phxart.org.
About the Exhibition
Richard Avedon: Among Creatives is co-organized by Phoenix Art Museum and the Center for Creative Photography. Its presentation at Phoenix Art Museum is curated by Emilia Mickevicius, PhD, the Norton Family Assistant Curator of Photography, and is drawn from the larger traveling exhibition, Richard Avedon: Relationships, curated by Rebecca Senf, PhD, Chief Curator at the Center for Creative Photography.
All exhibitions at Phoenix Art Museum are underwritten by the Phoenix Art Museum Exhibition Excellence Fund, founded by The Opatrny Family Foundation with additional major support provided by Joan Cremin.
Admission is free for Museum Members; youth aged 5 and younger; and Maricopa County Community Colleges students. Entrance into the exhibition is included in general admission for the public. Visitors may also enjoy reduced admission to the exhibition during voluntary-donation times on Wednesdays from 3 – 8 pm, made possible by SRP and City of Phoenix. For a full breakdown of general admission prices and hours, see phxart.org/visit/.
About Phoenix Art Museum
Since 1959, Phoenix Art Museum (PhxArt) has engaged millions of visitors with the art of our region and world. Located in Phoenix’s Central Corridor, PhxArt creates spaces of exchange and belonging for all audiences through dynamic exhibitions, collections, and experiences with art. Each year, 300,000 guests on average engage with critically acclaimed national and international exhibitions and the Museum’s collection of more than 21,000 works of American and Western American, Asian, European, Latin American, modern, and contemporary art and fashion design, along with vibrant photography exhibitions made possible through the Museum’s landmark partnership with the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona in Tucson. PhxArt also presents live performances, outstanding examples of global cinema, arts-education programs and workshops, an art+music festival, and more for the community. To learn more about Phoenix Art Museum, visit phxart.org, or call 602.257.1880.
About the Center for Creative Photography The Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona in Tucson is recognized as one of the world’s finest academic art museums and study centers for the history of photography. The Center opened in 1975, following a meeting between then University President Dr. John Schaefer and world-renowned photographer Ansel Adams. Beginning with the archives of five living master photographers—Ansel Adams, Wynn Bullock, Harry Callahan, Aaron Siskind, and Frederick Sommer—the collection has grown to include nearly 300 archival collections. Among these are some of the most recognizable names in 20th-century North American photography: Lola Álvarez Bravo, W. Eugene Smith, Edward Weston, and Garry Winogrand. Altogether, there are over eight million archival objects in the Center’s collection, including negatives, work prints, contact sheets, albums, scrapbooks, correspondence, writings, audiovisual materials, and memorabilia. In addition to whole archival collections, the Center also actively acquires individual photographs by modern and contemporary photographers. There are currently more than 120,000 works by over 2,200 photographers. A library of books, journals, and exhibition and auction catalogues, including many rare publications, plus an extensive oral history collection, complements the archival and fine print collections. The combined art, archival, and research collections at the Center provide an unparalleled resource for research, exhibitions, loans, and traveling exhibitions. The Center has a full schedule of exhibitions, programs, and events designed to deepen an understanding of how the medium impacts society. For more details, as well as information on Center membership and ways to get involved, visit https://ccp.arizona.edu/.