1985
Richard Avedon
Clifford Feldner, Unemployed Ranch Hand
Richard Avedon
Clifford Feldner, Unemployed Ranch Hand, 1985
From In the American West
Gelatin-silver print, 138 x 110 cm
Collection Fotomuseum Winterthur
XX-1992-006-006
Clifford Feldner, Unemployed Ranch Hand, 1985
From In the American West
Gelatin-silver print, 138 x 110 cm
Collection Fotomuseum Winterthur
XX-1992-006-006
1923 (New York, US) – 2004 (San Antonio, US)
With his series In the American West (1979–1984), Richard Avedon produced a provocative alternative to his glossy photographs so adored by the fashion world: homeless people, drifters, miners black with coal dust – people who lived in the shadows of American society. The secret to the intensity of Avedon’s portraits lies in the way he reduces the elements of the picture in order to bring out the essence of his subjects. Fuelled by a genuine interest in the individual and with an eye for sociological stereotypes, Avedon has composed a visual chronicle of America in the 1980s.