122: RICHARD AVEDON: A SPACE BETWEEN VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE.
Richard Avedon: In the American West - Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson - PARIS.
Richard Avedon, Sandra Bennett, twelve year old, Rocky Ford, Colorado, August 23, 1980 © The Richard Avedon Foundation
In 1979, at the height of his career, Richard Avedon, the most famous fashion image maker in the world, embarked on a series of pictures that were to become among the most influential portfolios of portraits ever recorded. His subjects were not the supermodels and cultural figureheads for whom he was best known, but of residents of the American West, far from the bright lights of New York - his subjects were the people who worked in slaughterhouses and mines, in oil fields and on ranches. Housewives, waitresses, truck drivers, farmers, cowboys, drifters and prisoners...
Two photography assistants accompanied him, as sheets of paper were stuck to outside walls as backdrops for on-the-road, open-air studios, distilling his images to elemental, indelible and evidential.
The first portrait within the 'In The American West' series was taken in March 1979, the last in October 1984, over the course of roughly 5.5 years, portraying 752 people in 189 cities and towns across 17 states. 103 portraits were selected for the final exhibition and catalogue.
Within the same period, Richard Avedon continued to make work for advertisers and Vogue magazine, including campaign imagery for fashion houses Versace and Calvin Klein. Photographing teenage star Brooke Shields in a series of controversial images where the 15 year old actor famously quips "You want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing". In the same year of 1980, Avedon was to photograph, possibly the most famous portrait within 'In The American West' series, a portrait of a 12 year old girl named Sandra Bennett. The parallels between the two portraits are interesting to contrast; both images depict girlhood in different guises, with one created to sell clothing and depicting a revision of the American identity. The fitted dark indigo jeans, polished Cuban heeled boots and unbuttoned blouse worn by Shields echo the workwear of the people who mined the American West for natural resources.
The portrait of Bennett, also photographed in denim and of a similar age to the Hollywood star, possibly shows a far more complex narrative than that of Shields. Who playfully is depicted in the guise of what the Calvin Klein consumer probably imagined the American West to encompass: romance. Bennett's 12-year-old eyes are full of the reality of life where the option to imagine another identity is not afforded; her denim workwear is fit for purpose, not for fashion.
Richard Avedon, Sandra Bennett, twelve year old, Rocky Ford, Colorado, August 23, 1980 © The Richard Avedon Foundation
Richard Avedon, In the American West, April 30 - October 12, 2025. Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson.