Richard Avedon PARIS In the American West from April 30 to October 12, 2025

Richard Avedon PARIS In the American West from April 30 to October 12, 2025

In 1979, Richard Avedon, already famous for his unmistakable style in the world of fashion and portraiture, embarked on a journey that would forever change his perspective and the history of photography. Commissioned by the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, he ventured into the American West, a land of contrasts and often untold stories, armed with his imposing large-format camera and a simple white background. For five years, between 1979 and 1984, Avedon did not just immortalize faces: he captured lives, faces marked by hard work, the struggle with an unforgiving nature, and an era that was slowly disappearing.

Richard Avedon Photography: The Art of Stopping Time in a Click

In 1979, Richard Avedon, already famous for his unmistakable style in the world of fashion and portraiture, embarked on a journey that would forever change his perspective and the history of photography. Commissioned by the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, he ventured into the American West, a land of contrasts and often untold stories, armed with his imposing large-format camera and a simple white background. For five years, between 1979 and 1984, Avedon did not just immortalize faces: he captured lives, faces marked by hard work, the struggle with an unforgiving nature, and an era that was slowly disappearing.

In the American West From April 30 to October 12, 2025 In the American West is much more than a collection of portraits. It is an intimate journey into the faces of miners, cattlemen, showmen, and street vendors—ordinary people capable of telling extraordinary stories through their fixed gazes at the lens. Avedon, accustomed to the glittering splendor of the runways, found in these people the true essence of the West, far from any cinematic glorification or television myth.

An anecdote tells of a time when, upon meeting a miner with a stern expression and a face covered in dust and fatigue, Avedon sat with him for hours without taking a single photo, just to listen. This shared time was fundamental to breaking the distrust of the inhabitants of those lands, who were often suspicious of strangers. His photographs are never cold or external observations: they are silent, intimate conversations, charged with a rare empathy.

The use of the stark, almost theatrical white background emphasized every wrinkle, every crease in the hands, every gaze lost in the void. It was as if Avedon wanted to strip these individuals of any context to restore their pure essence, unfiltered. It is said that the subjects, accustomed to a hard and simple existence, were initially disoriented by that theatrical white, but they learned to transform it into a stage to showcase their dignity and inner strength.

The exhibition dedicated to this iconic series, open from April 30 to October 12, 2025, at the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson in Paris, is a true journey into the genesis of the project. For the first time in Europe, all the original images from In the American West are being exhibited. But the experience goes further: the public can admire preliminary Polaroids, annotated by Avedon himself, test prints, and deeply personal letters exchanged between the photographer and his models.

Clément Chéroux, curator and director of the Foundation, emphasizes how these documents reveal not only the technique but, above all, the human relationship that was established behind the lens. A delicate exchange of trust that made every portrait authentic and profoundly human.

To mark the fortieth anniversary, Abrams has reissued the long out-of-print book, making a masterpiece that continues to influence photographers worldwide accessible once again.

The exhibition and Avedon's project invite us to look beyond the myths, to discover the authentic face of a vast, complex, and roaring America, told through sincere gazes that follow the slow, powerful rhythm of daily life.