Richard Avedon

Richard Avedon  was one of America’s most prominent photographers.

His works defined much of our fashion, art, and celebrity photography in the second half of the 20th century.

Bob Dylan by Richard Avedon

Audrey Hepburn by Richard Avedon, 1953

Avedon, who passed away in 2004 while on an assignment, grew up in the Bronx and started off as a photographer for the Merchant Marines in the early 1940s.  He later started providing images for Vogue and Life, depicting models in all sorts of emotion.  His art was always slightly edgy, blending the dramatic with the playful, such as showing a model adorned in Dior, posing next to elephants.  I especially like how his pieces brought out the movement or emotion in scene, rather than always portraying a lifeless subject.

Now, 6 years after his passing, Avedon’s photos are heading to Paris to be auctioned off this Fall for hundreds of thousands of dollars.  ”Dovima with Elephants” is expected to sell for $500,000 to $700, 000.  The total collections of about 60 photographs is worth up to $6 million.  The auction was set up by the Avedon Foundation of New York, hoping to create an endowment to carry out the legacy of the late artist.

The photos will be auctioned off on Nov. 20, 2010, around the same time as the Photo Paris festival.  Here are some more of Avedon’s works.