Artist: Richard Avedon

Gagosian presents Avedon 100, an exhibition in celebration of the centenary of Richard Avedon’s birth. Almost 150 celebrated artists, designers, musicians, writers, curators, and fashion world representatives were asked to select a photograph by Avedon and elaborate on the ways in which image and artist have made an impact on them. Participants include Hilton Als, Naomi Campbell, Elton John, Spike Lee, Sally Mann, Polly Mellen, Kate Moss, Chloë Sevigny, Taryn Simon, Christy Turlington, and Jonas Wood.

Avedon 100 celebrates Avedon’s enduring influence on photography and makes clear his profound impression on visual culture worldwide. The exhibition represents various periods in his oeuvre, including his widely known In the American West series and images of the social justice movement, as well as classic portraiture, advertising, and fashion work. It features both iconic and rare photographs, among them his singular mural prints, as well as unique exhibition prints made throughout his career. Several of the works have never been exhibited publicly.

The photographs on view reveal the enormous and fascinating diversity of Avedon’s subjects, while the commentary offered by many celebrated selectors underscores the breadth and endurance of his inspiration. Avedon 100 shows how the artist dissolved the lines between photographic genres and cemented the medium’s status as a contemporary art form. In an increasingly digital world, it is also testament to the technical and artistic achievements of film photography.

An illustrated catalogue featuring an essay by Sarah Elizabeth Lewis, associate professor of history of art and architecture and African and African American studies at Harvard University, and the founder of the Vision & Justice Project, will be published to accompany the exhibition.

Avedon’s photograph Dovima with elephants, evening dress by Dior, Cirque d’Hiver, Paris, August 1955 is on view in Gagosian’s booth at Art Basel Miami Beach.