| Front wall: |
UNKNOWN PHOTOGRAPHER (Possibly Edward B.Crichton)
Harlequin, ca. 1870
albumen print
image and paper, 10 3/8 x 7 1/8 inches
mount, 12 5/8 x 7 3/4 inches |
Peter Hujar met Richard Avedon in 1967 through a photographer's master class
offered by the New School. The weekly meetings were taught by Avedon and Marvin Israel and were
held at Avedon's studio. Visiting speakers included Diane Arbus and Lucas Samaras. The seminar
influenced and opened doors for a number of young photographers. Avedon and Hujar remained
friends after the workshop ended. Hujar died in 1987, at the age of fifty-three. |
| 1. |
PETER HUJAR
T.C., 1976
gelatin silver print
image, 14 1/2 x 14 1/2 inches
paper, 20 x 16 inches
signed, titled and dated verso in ink |
| Hujar was raised in the world of small-time grifters and dance-hall girls that
Damon Runyon wrote about and Weegee (a favorite) photographed, and he remained attached to such
people all his life. T.C. was a stripper who would stop in at Hujar's studio, have coffee, and
confide her troubles. The conspicuous place of this picture on the walls of Avedon's apartment
was a point of great pride to Hujar. |
| 2. |
PETER HUJAR
Edwin Denby, 1975
gelatin silver print
image, 14 3/4 x 14 3/4 inches
paper, 20 x 16 inches
signed, titled and dated verso in ink |
| Edwin Denby was a poet best known as a dance critic: the sage-in-residence of the
New York City Ballet, and the man for whom Lincoln Kirstein permanently reserved a seat in the
ninth row. Denby's Dancers, Buildings, and People in the Street,/i> is an important work of
twentieth-century dance criticism. |
| 3. |
PETER HUJAR
Butch and Buster, 1978
gelatin silver print
image, 14 3/4 x 14 3/4 inches
paper, 20 x 16 inches
signed verso in ink |
| Peter Hujar sometimes (but not always) gave titles to his pictures. To a special
few of the images he gave affectionate personal nicknames. In Butch and Buster, a picture
Hujar considered among his finest animal portraits, the nickname became the title. |
| 4. |
PETER HUJAR
Ann Wilson, 1975
gelatin silver print
image, 14 3/4 x 14 3/4 inches
paper, 20 x 16 inches
signed, titled and dated verso in ink |
| The artist Ann Wilson was a friend of Peter Hujar's from the earliest years of his
career. When Hujar made this portrait for his book Portraits in Life and Death, Wilson was a
particularly visible presence in the downtown scene. |
| 5. |
PETER HUJAR
James Waring, 1975
gelatin silver print
image, 14 1/2 x 14 3/4 inches
paper, 20 x 16 inches
signed, titled and dated verso in ink |
| The choreographer James Waring was once a big name in the small world of New York's
downtown avant-garde--one of the Minimalists who during the late sixties and early seventies worked
at the Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village. Now almost forgotten, Waring died young of cancer.
This portrait was made during the last year of his life. |
| 6. |
PETER HUJAR
Bruce de Sainte Croix, 1978
gelatin silver print
image, 14 1/2 x 14 3/4 inches
paper, 20 x 16 inches
signed verso in ink |
| This picture was once mistitled Joe L., probably to keep the sitter's identity anonymous.
Yet the real sitter, Bruce de Sainte Croix, a Hujar friend who in 1978 worked for the Merce Cunningham
Dance Company, places the erotic sequence that Hujar did of him in 1978 among the high points of his youth.
"No other artist," he writes, "has in any medium seen and revealed with greater grace my soul and inner being." |
| 7. |
PETER HUJAR
Sydney Faulkner, 1981
gelatin silver print
image, 14 1/2 x 14 1/2 inches
paper, 20 x 16 inches
signed, titled, dated, and numbered verso in ink; "938-3-6" written verso in ink |
| Peter Hujar's art found focus in portraits of the sick, the impaired, and the dying.
This interest was never simply documentary. Hujar was invariably searching for aesthetic insight opened
by suffering; it was part of the beauty-in-brokenness central to his art. Sydney Faulkner was an actor
in Charles Ludlum's Ridiculous Theatrical Company. Hujar made this portrait in the last days of
Faulkner's life, as he was dying of cancer. |
| 8. |
AUGUST SANDER
Philosopher (Professor Max Scheler), c. 1925
gelatin silver print
image and paper, 7 3/4 x 6 1/4 inches
inscribed "Collection Gruber" verso in ink
inscribed "Der Philosophe Schecler (sic)" verso in pencil
Sander's Köln blindstamp lower left recto
Sander's Lichtbildner stamp verso
accompanied by note from Professor L. Fritz Gruber
Avedon Foundation #162.280 |
| This early Sander print was a gift to Avedon in 1975 from the German historian and
curator L. Fritz Gruber. The print was accompanied by the following note: Photograph by AUGUST
SANDER; Print made by AUGUST SANDER for GRUBER COLLECTION; now given to RICHARD AVEDON; in ADMIRATION
and GRATITIUDE; L. Fritz Gruber; Oct. 21, 1975 |
Considered the most beautiful woman of her day, the Countess de Castiglione was a
special agent for the cause of Italian unification, the mistress of Emperor Napoléon III, and a mysterious
recluse notorious for her many love affairs. She collaborated with the photographer Pierre-Louis Pierson
to chronicle her natural beauty and extravagant couture, to re-create for posterity the great moments of
her public life, and to give expression to her private fantasies.
The eighteen photographs of the Countess in Richard Avedon's collection constitute the most important
collection of her portraits in private hands. The prints once belonged to the theater designer and
impresario Christian Berard, who purchased them at Galerie Druet in Paris in the 1930s. A passionate
admirer of the Countess, Berard mounted the photographs to black album pages and surrounded the images
with a handwritten text describing imaginary scenes inspired by her extravagant life.
For much of the information on the following pages we are indebted to the catalogue La Divine Comtesse:
Photographs of the Countess de Castiglione, published by Yale University Press in association with The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2000). |
| 9. |
PIERRE-LOUIS PIERSON
Drawings related to the photographs of La Comtesse de Castiglione, 1930's
gouache drawings on black album paper by Christian Berard
paper, 9 1/8 x 14 1/2 inches |
| 10. |
PIERRE-LOUIS PIERSON
Virginie, 1861-67
albumen print from glass negative
image, 3 7/8 x 5 1/4 inches
mount, 9 1/8 x 14 1/2 inches
photograph mounted to black album paper by Christian Berard |
| The Countess entitled this photograph Virginie after the heroine of a novel by Jacques-Henri
Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (1793). An illustration from this book depicts the discovery of Virginie's lifeless
body on the beach. The Countess was evidently inspired by this depiction of a chaste maiden who chooses to
drown rather than undress before the eyes of the sailor who offers to save her life. This was reportedly
one of the Countess's favorite portraits. |
| 11. |
PIERRE-LOUIS PIERSON
Scherzo di Follia, 1863-66
albumen print from glass negative
image, 7 5/8 x 5 1/2 inches
mount, 9 1/8 x 14 1/2 inches
photograph mounted to black album paper by Christian Berard |
| Though this and only one other early print of Scherzo di Follia are believed to exist, the
image has become one of the most famous and oft reproduced portraits in the history of photography. The
title, which can be translated as "Games of Madness," is taken from Verdi's opera Un Ballo in Maschera. |
| 12. |
PIERRE-LOUIS PIERSON
Elvira, 1861-67
albumen print from glass negative
image, 4 3/8 x 4 7/8 inches
mount, 9 1/8 x 14 1/2 inches
photograph mounted to black album paper by Christian Berard |
| Few women of the Countess's day could have exaggerated fashion to this extent without exposing
themselves to ridicule. The Countess's extravagance was aided by her position as a foreigner, as well as her
belief that she could get away with anything. |
| 13. |
PIERRE-LOUIS PIERSON
Two O'Clock, 1861-67
albumen print from glass negative
image, 4 5/8 x 5 1/4 inches
mount, 9 1/8 x 14 1/2 inches
photograph mounted to black album paper by Christian Berard |
| Two O'Clock, depicting the Countess with hair loose, lying under a coverlet, is one of her more
erotically suggestive portraits. |
| 14. |
PIERRE-LOUIS PIERSON
The Eyes, 1863-66
albumen print from glass negative
image, 6 7/8 x 6 3/4 inches
mount, 9 1/8 x 14 3/8 inches
photograph mounted to black album paper by Christian Berard |
| In this celebrated sitting, the Countess attempts to give her eyes a life independent of her body,
isolating them with the help of a small oval mirror held at arm's length. |
| 15. |
PIERRE-LOUIS PIERSON
La Comtesse de Castiglione in an Ermine Cloak, 1861-67
albumen print from glass negative
image, 4 3/8 x 4 3/4 inches
mount, 9 1/8 x 14 1/2 inches
photograph mounted to black album paper by Christian Berard |
| 16. |
PIERRE-LOUIS PIERSON
Untitled, 1863-66
albumen print from glass negative
image, 4 x 4 inches
mount, 9 1/8 x 14 1/2 inches
photograph mounted to black album paper by Christian Berard |
| This sitting may be inspired by Jean-Baptiste Greuze's painting Young Girl Weeping over Her Dead
Bird. In another print, the image is cropped to the picture frame, showing only the head and shoulders of a woman
in despair. |
| 17. |
PIERRE-LOUIS PIERSON
One Sunday, 1861-66
albumen print from glass negative
image, 4 1/2 x 4 5/8 inches
mount, 9 1/8 x 14 3/8 inches
photograph mounted to black album paper by Christian Berard |
| The Countess treated social constraints with scornful superiority and took pleasure in ignoring
rules and conventions she was convinced did not apply to her. Here dressed in a ball gown and mask, she acts the
part of a woman of easy virtue, striking an alluring, seductive pose. The image recalls the adventuresses of the
bals de l'Opéra as illustrated by Paul Gavarni or Constantin Guys. |
| 18. |
PIERRE-LOUIS PIERSON
Sculptural Shoulders, 1861-67
albumen print from glass negative
image, 3 7/8 x 4 3/8 inches
mount, 9 1/8 x 14 3/8 inches
photograph mounted to black album paper by Christian Berard |
| 19. |
CENTRAL STUDIOS
18th Supreme Council Convention, Ladies Catholic Benevolent Association, Haddon Hall, Atlantic City, July, 1941
gelatin silver print mounted to linen
image and paper, 9 x 46 1/2 inches |
| The attire and general demeanor of the women in this photograph parallel the subjects in Avedon's portrait
of The Generals of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Mayfower Hotel, Washington DC, October 15, 1963. |
| 20. |
AUGUST SANDER
Farm Girls, c. 1928
printed by Gerd Sander c. 1963 for Photokina International Exposition, Cologne
gelatin silver print
image, 19 1/2 x 14 1/2 inches
paper, 19 7/8 x 15 5/8 inches |
| 21. |
JACQUES-HENRI LARTIGUE
Anna la Pradvina, Ave. du Bois de Boulogne, 1911
printed c. 1970
gelatin silver print
image and paper, 10 3/4 x 13 3/4 inches
mount, 11 x 14 inches |
| Avedon met Lartigue in New York in 1966, and the two photographers became friends. In 1970,
Avedon edited Diary of a Century: Jacques-Henri Lartigue, still considered an essential reference on Lartigue's life and work. |
| 22. |
JACQUES-HENRI LARTIGUE
Simone Roussel--Solo, 1913
printed 1940's
gelatin silver print
image and paper, 11 7/8 x 15 3/4 inches
artist's stamp verso
titled and dated verso in pencil |
| 23. |
JACQUES-HENRI LARTIGUE
Toby, Royan, August 1923
printed c. 1970
gelatin silver print sandwiched between plexiglass
image and paper, 12 x 9 1/2 inches
mount, 12 x 9 1/2 inches
inscribed and initialled "pour Dick souvenir de son ami Jac" |
| 24. |
HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON
Cordoba, Spain, 1933
gelatin silver print
image and paper, 9 1/8 x 6 1/8 inches
mount, 14 1/8 x 10 1/8 inches
signed and numbered verso on label
inscribed "vole á Nicolas Nabokoff" verso on label
Avedon collection stamp verso |
| This and the following three early prints by Cartier-Bresson were a gift to Avedon from the
composer Nicolas Nabokov. Nabokov had been a close friend of Cartier-Bresson's in the 1930s. |
| 25. |
HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON
Mexico City, 1934
gelatin silver print
image and paper, 7 x 9 7/8 inches
mount, 10 1/8 x 14 1/8 inches
signed and numbered verso on label
inscribed "vole á Nicolas Nabokoff" in ink verso
Avedon collection stamp verso |
| 26. |
HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON
Havana, Cuba, 1934
gelatin silver print
image and paper, 6 1/2 x 9 3/4 inches
mount, 10 1/8 x 14 1/8 inches
signed and numbered verso on label
inscribed "vole á Nicolas Nabokoff" on label verso
Avedon collection stamp verso |
| 27. |
HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON
Untitled, c. 1934
gelatin silver print
image and paper, 9 3/4 x 6 5/8 inches
mount, 14 1/8 x 10 1/8 inches
signed and numbered verso on label
inscribed "vole á Nicolas Nabokoff" on label verso
Avedon collection stamp verso |
| 28. |
BRASSAÏ
A Monastic Brothel, Rue Monsieur-le-Prince, Quartier Latin, c. 1931
printed 1970's
gelatin silver print
image and paper, 11 3/4 x 8 1/4 inches
signed recto in ink
title and other notations verso in pencil; artist's stamp verso |
| 29. |
UNKNOWN PHOTOGRAPHER
Mug Shots, 1929
printed later
three gelatin silver print
each image, 7 1/2 x 11 inches
each paper, 8 3/8 x 11 3/4 inches |
| 30. |
IRVING PENN
30. IRVING PENN
Colette, Paris, 1951
printed 1950s
gelatin silver print
image and paper, 13 1/2 x 13 1/2 inches
mount, 20 x 15 inches
signed verso in pencil
inscribed "for Dick, in friendship, with
admiration, Irving Penn" verso in artist's hand |
| 31. |
IRVING PENN
Lion (3/4 view), Photographed at Narodni Museum,
Prague, Czechoslovakia, 1986
printed 1986
selenium toned silver print mounted on board
image, 19 x 23 3/8 inches
mount, 22 x 26 inches
signed verso in pencil
titled, dated and numbered verso in ink
annotated verso with ink and pencil
from an edition of 19 |
| 32. |
IRVING PENN
Parisian Bog Mouse, 1976
printed March 1976
platinum palladium print
image and paper, 11 1/2 x 22 3/8 inches
signed and titled verso in pencil
inscribed "for Dick - with love from Lisa and Irving" verso in artists's hand
1/1 |
| In 1975 Richard Avedon saw the exhibition Irving Penn: Photographs
of Cigarettes at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Soon after, he purchased
fifteen of the prints. Each is numbered as the first print of its edition. |
| 33. |
IRVING PENN
Cigarette No. 118, New York, 1972
printed April 1975
platinum palladium print on Rives paper
image, 22 1/2 x 17 3/4 inches
paper, 25 x 22 inches
mount, 26 x 22 inches
signed, dated and numbered verso in pencil
annotated verso with ink and pencil
1/9 |
| 34. |
IRVING PENN
Cigarette No. 53, New York, 1972
printed April 1974
platinum palladium print on Arches paper
mounted on aluminum
image, 23 1/2 x 18 inches
paper, 25 x 22 inches
mount, 26 x 22 inches
signed, dated and numbered verso in pencil
annotated verso with ink and pencil
1/20 |
| 35. |
IRVING PENN
Cigarette No. 48, New York, 1972
printed April 1974
platinum palladium print on Arches paper
mounted on aluminum
image, 23 1/2 x 18 inches
paper, 25 x 22 inches
mount, 26 x 22 inches
signed, dated and numbered verso in pencil
annotated verso with ink and pencil
1/20 |
| 36. |
IRVING PENN
Cigarette No. 37, New York, 1972
printed June 1975
platinum palladium print on Arches paper
mounted on aluminum
image, 23 x 17 inches
paper, 25 x 22 inches
mount, 26 x 22 inches
signed, dated and numbered verso in pencil
annotated verso with ink and pencil
1/70 |
| 37. |
IRVING PENN
Cigarette No. 86, New York, 1972
printed June 1975
platinum palladium print on Rives paper
mounted on aluminum
image, 23 x 18 1/4 inches
paper, 25 x 22 inches
mount, 26 x 22 inches
signed, dated and numbered verso in pencil
annotated verso with ink and pencil
1/37 |
| 38. |
IRVING PENN
Cigarette No. 50, New York, 1972
printed December 1974
platinum palladium print on Rives paper
mounted on aluminum
image, 23 1/2 x 17 3/4 inches
paper, 25 x 22 inches
mount, 26 x 22 inches
signed, dated and numbered verso in pencil
annotated verso with ink and pencil
1/38 |
| 39. |
IRVING PENN
Cigarette No. 34, New York, 1972
printed April 1975
platinum palladium print on Rives paper
mounted on aluminum
image, 23 1/2 x 18 inches
paper, 25 x 22 inches
mount, 26 x 22 inches
signed, dated and numbered verso in pencil
annotated verso with ink and pencil
1/18 |
| 40. |
IRVING PENN
Cigarette No. 123, New York, 1972
printed April 1974
platinum palladium print on Arches paper
mounted on aluminum
image, 23 x 18 1/2 inches
paper, 25 x 22 inches
mount, 26 x 22 inches
signed, dated and numbered verso in pencil
annotated verso with ink and pencil
1/19 |
| 41. |
IRVING PENN
Cigarette No. 69, New York, 1972
printed March 1975
platinum palladium print on Arches paper
mounted on aluminum
image, 23 x 19 inches
paper, 25 x 22 inches
mount, 26 x 22 inches
signed, dated and numbered verso in pencil
annotated verso with ink and pencil
1/46 |
| 42. |
IRVING PENN
Cigarette No. 52, New York, 1972
printed April 1974
platinum palladium print on Arches paper
mounted on aluminum
image, 23 3/4 x 18 1/2 inches
paper, 25 x 22 inches
mount, 26 x 22 inches
signed, dated and numbered verso in pencil
annotated verso with ink and pencil
1/42 |
| 43. |
IRVING PENN
Cigarette No. 17, New York, 1972
printed April-May 1975
platinum palladium print on Rives paper
mounted on aluminum
image, 23 1/2 x 19 inches
paper, 25 x 22 inches
mount, 26 x 22 inches
signed, dated and numbered verso in pencil
annotated verso with ink and pencil
1/64 |
| 44. |
IRVING PENN
Cigarette No. 8, New York, 1972
printed May 1974
platinum palladium print on Rives paper
mounted on aluminum
image, 23 3/4 x 16 1/2 inches
paper, 25 x 22 inches
mount, 26 x 22 inches
signed, titled, dated and numbered verso in pencil
annotated verso with ink and pencil
1/27 |
| 45. |
BARON ADOLPHE DE MEYER
Portrait of the Marchesa Luisa Casati, 1912
printed c. 1940
gelatin silver print
image, 14 x 11 inches
paper, 20 x 16 inches
signed rectco in pencil |
| The Marchesa Luisa Casati spent much of her life defying convention and
luxuriating in extravagance. She kept grand homes in Paris and Venice, was served by servants
dressed in gold leaf, and enjoyed strolling in her gardens wearing only furs, with her pet
cheetahs in attendance. |
| 46. |
NADAR (GASPARD FÉLIX TOURNACHON)
Ernestine, 1854-55
salted paper print from glass negative
image and paper, 9 3/4 x 6 3/4 inches |
| The subject of this portrait is Ernestine-Constance Lefèvre Tournachon, the
eighteen-year-old wife of the photographer. At the time this photograph was made Nadar was
twice her age and already famous. The disarming psychological tone of Nadar's portrait is
echoed in Avedon's own 1975 portrait of his wife, Evelyn. Whether Avedon acquired the Nadar
before or after he made his portrait of Evelyn is unknown. |
| 47. |
JULIA MARGARET CAMERON
Stella, 1867
albumen print from a collodion negative
image, 11 1/4 x 9 inches
mount, 14 x 9 5/8 inches
inscribed "No. 2" recto in ink |
| Julia Prinsep Jackson was the niece and godchild of Julia Margaret Cameron and
became one of her favorite models. She was the mother of the painter Vanessa Bell and the writer
Virginia Woolf. Cameron entitled this ghostly image Stella, after Astrophel and Stella,
a sequence of 108 sonnets and 11 songs by Sir Philip Sidney, published in 1591. |
| 48. |
JULIA MARGARET CAMERON
Portrait of a Woman (Christina Fraser-Tytler), c. 1868
albumen print from a collodion negative
image, 10 1/2 x 8 3/4 inches
mount, 12 1/2 x 11 inches
signed in ink lower right recto
annotated "from Life" written lower left recto |
| Cameron's female models were for the most part young and beautiful and were from
a variety of backgrounds: ladies, servants, intimate friends, and acquaintances. Christina
Catherine Fraser-Tytler was one of four sisters who modeled for Cameron. The sisters were daughters
of Charles Edward Fraser-Tytler, a Scottish landowner and former Indian civil servant. |
| 49. |
DIANE ARBUS
A Box of Ten / "Eleven" Photographs, 1971
portfolio of eleven vintage silver prints in a plexiglas box designed by Marvin Israel
image, approximately 15 x 15 inches
paper, 20 x 16 inches
each print signed and numbered by Diane Arbus recto in image
each print titled verso by Arbus with titled interleaving sheets in Arbus's hand
1/50 |
| Richard Avedon purchased A Box of Ten Photographs from Diane Arbus in 1971.
His portfolio is numbered 1/50. On the handwritten cover sheet, Arbus crossed out the word ten
and replaced it with eleven*, followed by the footnote *especially for RA. The eleventh
photograph is inscribed At a Halloween party for mentally retarded women, a lady in a wheelchair,
masked, 1969. |
| 50. |
HELMUT NEWTON
In a Garden near Rome, 1977
image, 17 1/4 x 11 7/8 inches
paper, 19 5/8 x 15 7/8 inches
signed, titled and dated verso in ink
artist's stamp verson |
| 51. |
WILLIAM KLEIN
Maguy Marin and Dancers, Paris, 1989
gelatin silver print
image, 12 1/4 x 18 1/8 inches
paper, 15 3/4 x 20 inches
signed, titled and dated verso in pencil |
| 52. |
HIRO
Game Fowl, Maryland, 1988
gelatin silver print
image and paper, 26 1/8 x 43 inches
signed and numbered verso in pencil
title and date stamped verso |
| 53. |
AMY ARBUS
The Skeptic, 1994
gelatin silver print
image, 13 x 8 7/8 inches
paper, 14 x 11 inches
signed, titled and numbered verso in ink
artist's stamp verso
"Jacob" written verso in ink
1/75 |
| 54. |
DIANA MICHENER
Untitled, 1981
gelatin silver print
image, 14 x 14 inches
paper, 16 3/8 x 16 inches
signed verso |
| 55. |
NEIL SELKIRK
Dog on a Farm in New Jersey, 1976
printed c. 1980
gelatin silver print on Azo paper
image, 18 1/4 x 18 1/2 inches
paper, 23 3/4 x 20 inches
signed and numbered verso in pencil
3/30 |
| 56. |
EADWEARD MUYBRIDGE
Buffalo Walking, 1887
collotype
image, 7 1/2 x 15 3/4 inches
paper, 19 x 24 inches |
| 57. |
EADWEARD MUYBRIDGE
"Clinton" Cantering, Bareback; Rider Nude, 1887
collotype
image, 8 7/8 x 13 1/4 inches
paper, 18 1/2 x 23 5/8 inches |
| 58. |
DAVID SEYMOUR ("SHIM")
Richard Avedon and Fred Astaire on Set of Funny Face, Paris, 1956
printed c. 1970
gelatin silver print
image, 22 7/8 x 15 3/8 inches
paper and mount, 23 1/2 x 15 7/8 inches
inscribed by Avedon "on set of Funny Face by David Seymour" and "Shim" verso in pencil
inscribed "printed by Igor Bakht" verso in pencil |
| Funny Face, the 1957 film classic starring Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn,
was based on the life of a fictional photographer named Dick Avery. Avedon served as the film's
visual consultant. |
| |
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