Pier 24 Photography from the Pilara Family Foundation Sold to Benefit Charitable Organizations
Richard Avedon
B. J. Van Fleet, Nine Year Old, Ennis, Montana, July 2, 1982
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April 3, 04:24 PM GMT
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70,000 - 100,000 USD
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Description
Pier 24 Photography from the Pilara Family Foundation Sold to Benefit Charitable Organizations
Richard Avedon
1923 - 2004
B. J. Van Fleet, Nine Year Old, Ennis, Montana, July 2, 1982
gelatin silver print, signed and editioned '4/4' with a stylus in the margin, mounted to aluminum, framed, a Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, label on the reverse
image: 56¼ by 45 in. (142.9 by 114.3 cm.)
frame: 61½ by 49 in. (156.2 by 124.5 cm.)
Executed in 1982, printed in 1984-85, this print is number 4 from an edition of 4 plus 2 artist's proofs.
The Richard Avedon Foundation
Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco
Acquired from the above in 2008 by the present owner
San Francisco, Pier 24 Photography, About Face, May 2012 – April 2013
San Francisco, Pier 24 Photography, Turning the Page, April 2024 – January 2025
Richard Avedon: In the American West (New York, 1985), unpaginated
About Face (San Francisco: Pier 24 Photography, 2014), pp. 146 and 151 (this print)
In 1985, Richard Avedon’s series In the American West debuted at the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas. Commissioned by the Museum in 1979, Avedon set out to document the diverse people of the region. Across 17 states, in 189 towns, and over 6 years, he photographed 752 individuals from all walks of life including carnival workers, coal miners, cowboys, and migrant workers. From those images he distilled the series to focus on 125 images for the museum exhibition and publication. In the American West remains as compelling and profound today as at its inception exactly 40 years ago.
The intimate outdoor portraits from this project reveal an undeniable connection between Avedon and each sitter. He positioned his subjects against a 9-by-7 feet sheet of white paper hung on walls, buildings or even trailers, allowing them to take center stage and fill the frame. While the portraits of working-class Americans mark a departure from his background photographing celebrities and high fashion, each portrait from In the American West is immediately recognizable as a work by Avedon. Just as with his studio photographs of socialites and models, Avedon has briefly removed these working class individuals from their environment in order to capture a raw and intense series of portraits.
Forty years after In The American West was first shown at The Amon Carter, the Museum will celebrate the anniversary this May with the exhibition Richard Avedon at the Carter and a reissuing of the long out-of-print publication In the American West.
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