Richard Avedon at the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation: Exhibition of Major Works

Looking to understand the impact of the Richard Avedon exhibition at the Cartier-Bresson Foundation? The analysis of 15 major works from the “In the American West” series reveals key insights to transform your view of contemporary photography. Discover an expert summary blending historical context, technical analysis, and artistic trends, enriched with concrete examples to grasp the very essence of Avedon’s work.

Table of Contents

1. The “In the American West” Series Exhibited in Paris
2. Genesis of Avedon’s Photographic Project
3. Avedon’s Distinctive Photographic Technique
4. Miners Immortalized by Richard Avedon
5. Cowboys of the American West
6. Carnival Workers in Avedon’s Lens
7. Salespeople Captured Against a White Background
8. Ordinary Passersby Immortalized

The “In the American West” Series Exhibited in Paris

Richard Avedon’s “In the American West” series offers a new perspective on the people of the American West. Unlike the usual heroic representations, Avedon captures ordinary people with authenticity. His series questions the myth of rural America through stark, frontal portraits.

The exhibition at the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation runs from April 30 to October 12, 2025. It celebrates the 40th anniversary of Avedon’s iconic book. To discover other photography events in Paris, check the Paris Photo 2025 program.

Genesis of Avedon’s Photographic Project

The “In the American West” project was commissioned by the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth. Director Mitchell A. Wilder sought a personal vision of the American West from a great contemporary photographer.

Between 1979 and 1984, Avedon traveled to 189 cities across 17 U.S. states and Canada. This five-year journey marked a shift in his career from fashion photographer to fine art portraitist.

Richard Avedon photographed ordinary people in 17 key U.S. states:

• Arizona
• California
• Colorado
• Idaho
• Iowa
• Kansas
• Montana
• Nebraska
• Nevada
• New Mexico
• North Dakota
• Oklahoma
• Oregon
• South Dakota
• Texas
• Utah
• Wyoming

To capture the essence of the West, Avedon conducted 752 photo sessions. He exposed over 17,000 sheets of film and photographed over 1,000 individuals for this iconic series.

Avedon’s Distinctive Photographic Technique

Avedon employed a distinctive technical approach with a systematic white background and frontal portraits. He used minimal lighting to emphasize expressions and bodily details. This stripped-down method defined his iconic style.

For his sessions, Avedon relied on 8×10 large format cameras like his Deardorff. This format offered exceptional quality and unmatched depth. The 300mm lens flattered faces, enhancing their sculptural character.

Avedon captured natural light to reveal the subtleties of facial features. This approach turned each face into a human landscape. The contrast between light and shadow powerfully revealed the essence of his subjects.

Miners Immortalized by Richard Avedon

Avedon portrayed miners in a stripped-down style against a white background, with extreme attention to detail. These portraits, created between 1979 and 1984, deconstruct myths by highlighting marginalized figures of the American West.

The traces of labor on the miners’ faces and bodies reveal raw reality. Avedon turned these workers into artistic subjects through frontal framing, isolating their individuality with unflinching honesty.

Among the exhibited works, the portrait of Roger Tims and fellow coal miners from 1979 illustrates this approach. The faces become human landscapes, revealing a raw truth about the working class.

Cowboys of the American West

Cowboys, mythical symbols of the American West, are photographed by Avedon without embellishment. Against a white background, their features and expressions reveal a raw reality far from heroic clichés. This series questions the collective imagination of rural America.

Avedon deconstructs the cowboy myth by capturing faces marked by labor. His portraits offer neither glorification nor melodrama, but naked humanity. The “In the American West” series features 103 works from over 1,000 photographed subjects.

The project’s first image, a cowboy from Montana in 1978, set the tone for the series. Natural light, a neutral background, and frontal framing transform an ordinary face into a human landscape. This foundational portrait embodies Avedon’s subjective vision.

Carnies in Avedon’s Lens

Avedon photographed carnies, vagabonds, and itinerant workers for his “In the American West” series. Captured against a plain white backdrop, these subjects offer a realistic vision of the American West. Their inclusion breaks with usual mythologized portrayals.

The portraits reveal a marginalized, often forgotten America. Avedon sheds light on lives marked by hardship, showing a “wilted” West far from idealized images. The subjects include carnies, waitresses, and former boxers.

The portrait of Sandra Bennett, a young girl photographed in 1980, illustrates Avedon’s ability to capture the humanity of his subjects. On a white background, her expression reveals the individuality of this ordinary figure from carnival life.

Vendors Captured Against a White Background

Avedon included vendors in his “In the American West” series, photographing them alone or in small groups. Like others in the series, these portraits use a clean white backdrop. Natural light reveals the facial details, transforming each individual into a subject of social analysis.

The vendor portraits reflect a philosophy of reduction to essentials. Avedon transforms each face into a topographic map, where wrinkles and expressions tell life stories. This universal approach aims to capture raw humanity.

An emblematic image shows a street vendor from Phoenix, captured in 1981. His gaze locks intensely with the lens, while the white backdrop removes all distractions. This photo embodies Avedon’s commitment to revealing social diversity in the American West.

Ordinary Passersby Immortalized

The ordinary passersby photographed by Richard Avedon embody the human diversity of the American West. Against a white background, each portrait reveals unique life paths, faces marked by labor or indifference. These anonymous images explore collective identity through captured individuality.

The Richard Avedon exhibition at the Cartier-Bresson Foundation shows how the artist transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary. His black-and-white portraits, captured on a white background, unveil the soul of the American West. Don’t miss this deep dive into the world of a legendary photographer before October 12, 2025 – let yourself be immersed in a vision that redefines the art of photography.