LOT Phillips de Pury & Company  /  PHOTOGRAPHS PART I  / 

46

RICHARD AVEDON (American, b. 1923) THE FAMILY (A WORK IN PROGRESS) GERALD FORD HENRY KISSINGER N...

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RICHARD AVEDON (American, b. 1923) THE FAMILY (A WORK IN PROGRESS) GERALD FORD HENRY KISSINGER N...
RICHARD AVEDON (American, b. 1923) THE FAMILY (A WORK IN PROGRESS) GERALD FORD HENRY KISSINGER NELSON ROCKEFELLER WALTER ANNENBERG DR. JULES STEIN EUGENE MCCARTHY EDMUND MUSKIE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE (DONALD RUMSFELD) SECRETARY OF COMMERCE (ELLIOT RICHARDSON) HUBERT HUMPHREY CESAR CHAVEZ WASHINGTON LAWYERS (CHARLES SCHAFFER, HERBERT MILLER, JR., RICHARD KLEINDIENST, JOSEPH CALIFANO) CLARK CLIFFORD CHRM OF THE BOARD, AT&T (JOHN DEBUTTS) MELVIN LAIRD JIMMY CARTER GEORGE BUSH WILLIAM PALEY KATHARINE GRAHAM ARTHUR BURNS ADM. HYMAN RICKOVER EDWARD KENNEDY A. PHILIP RANDOLPH (FOUNDER, BROTHERHOOD OF SLEEPING CAR PORTERS) UNION LEADERS (FRANK FITZSIMMONS, LEONARD WOODCOCK, THOMAS GLEASON, ARNOLD MILLER) GEORGE MEANY typed label identifying each portrait paper-clipped above each image 31 gelatin silver prints adhered to folded sheets of paper that are clipped together each: 9 5/8 x 12 in. (24.4 x 30.5 cm) 1976 this work is unique in this format PROVENANCE Private Collection, UNITED STATES LITERATURE Richard Avedon, "The Family," ROLLING STONE, Issue No. 224, October 21, 1976, pp. 50-97, 110, 112, 115, 117, 120 (each illustrated with other 1976 presidential campaign members and Who's Who biographies) Richard Avedon and Harold Rosenberg, PORTRAITS, New York, 1976, n.p. (Henry Kissinger illustrated) Roland Barthes, LA CHAMBRE CLAIRE, Paris, 1980, p. 170 (A. Philip Randolph illustrated) Richard Avedon, AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY, LONDON, 1994, n.p., nos. 140, 142, 208, 211, 212 (Henry Kissinger, Nelson Rockefeller, Gerald Ford, Eugene McCarthy, Edmund Muskie illustrated) Jane Livingston and Adam Gopnik, EVIDENCE 1944-1994, RICHARD AVEDON, NEW YORK, 1994, pp. 159-160 (Eugene McCarthy, George Meany, Gerald Ford, A. Philip Randolph, Henry Kissinger illustrated) AVEDON: THE SIXTIES, NEW YORK, 1999, p. 56 (A. Philip Randolph illustrated), p. 88 (César Chavez illustrated), p. 121 (Henry Kissinger illustrated) In 1976, the bicentennial year of the United States of America, the nation's political state remained shaken from the Watergate scandal and the profound wounds inflicted by the Vietnam War. 1976 was also a year for another United States presidential election. Although the key players were those battling for their party's nomination and then for the presidency itself, there was an extreme amount of behind-the-scenes work that contributed to the events and outcome of the landmark election. After the impeachment of Nixon, the Ford administration proved powerless to control the inflation that rocked the post-war economy, causing unemployment to rise steeply. There was an energy crisis, causing many corporations to weaken. The 1973 Supreme Court decision "Roe v. Wade" caused deep political battle lines over women's reproductive decisions. Many continued to question the country's role in the war, as anti-war activists refocused their protests against rightist government in general. The 1972 Watergate scandal discredited many politicians and caused public distrust of all government. President Ford and California Governor Ronald Reagan contended for the Republican party nomination. The President clinched the nomination and chose Senator Robert Dole as his running mate against the Democratic duo, Carter/Mondale. This dummy model for Avedon's project, THE FAMILY, to be included in the bicentennial issue of ROLLING STONE magazine, captures the powerful and elite minds behind the political battles of 1976. Meant as a model for the 73-portrait piece that was published in the October 21, 1976, issue of ROLLING STONE, this 31-portrait object not only has extreme political importance, but also reveals the artistic decisions made by the great mind behind the camera. What and who Avedon chose to add or delete and what he chose to change in terms of layout and portrait order makes this object a fascinating artistic artifact. Instead of using the portrait of Gerald Ford posed beside the American flag as his first image, Ford is published opposite his presidential opponent, Jimmy Carter, in the middle of the issue. In the published version, Avedon includes portraits of the secretaries of some of the political players, demonstrating his belief that their role was as vital as those that they worked for. Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy has been inserted and placed opposite her son, Edward, in the final issue. This was the artist's intention at the time he made the model offered here, as he wrote on the typed label: "EDWARD KENNEDY, this portrait to be faced by one of his mother to be done tomorrow." Some slight variations were chosen for the published version: Walter Annenberg poses with his arms crossed in the published version; Secretary of Commerce Elliot Richardson does not smile in the published portrait as he does in the portrait included here; Jimmy Carter fills the frame, as his head has to be cropped in the published version. Avedon was an artist often interested in making bold political statements. His book NOTHING PERSONAL (1964), with an accompanying text by James Baldwin, was his first mature political statement concentrating on the 1960s civil rights movement. In 1972, he was arrested at an anti-Vietnam War demonstration in Washington. He worked in Vietnam in the early 1970s, during which time he took the group portrait THE MISSION COUNCIL in Saigon, South Vietnam (April 27, 1971). This panoramic portrait made up of five horizontal panels depicts some of the most powerful men involved in the overseas military and is an important comparison to Avedon's political subjects in THE FAMILY. The left-leaning ROLLING STONE magazine sought out the photographer, who had become famous for his austere portraits of people of high achievement and power, for their issue preceding the November 2, 1976 election. Accompanying the images in the issue are biographies listing only the achievements of those depicted. In the issue's table of contents, the magazine explains: "Early this year we asked Richard Avedon-one of the world's greatest photographers-to cover America's bicentennial presidential election. Our original idea was to publish a chronicle of the campaign - the candidates and the conventions-from beginning to end. Shortly after accepting our commission, Mr. Avedon called to say that there was more to the election than met the eye; that the real story was not simply the candidates, but a broad group of men and women-some of whom we had never heard of before - who constitute the political leadership of America. Thus began a special issue of ROLLING STONE, a collection of 73 portraits. This project was edited by Renata Adler, author of Toward a Radical Middle and the recently published novel, Speedboat. Aside from the accompanying Who's Who biographies, there is no text; we think the portraits speak for themselves" (p. 5). These images do just that, particularly by means of Avedon's unique approach to his subjects. Except for the flag that rests beside President Gerald Ford, there are no props to aid Avedon's depictions of America's power elite. Austerity is generated by Avedon's signature white background. The portrait is a collaboration of the artist and the sitter, so, inevitably, the wills of both the sitter and the photographer come through in Avedon's portraits. "The two images, that of the sitter and that of the photo-portraitist, are locked in a silent wrestle of imaginations, until they are thrust apart by the click of the shutter. At that moment the issue is resolved, but not necessarily in favor of either of the contestants" (Rosenberg). Although Avedon plays director, the subjects are allowed the expression of their choice, many of which seem self-conscious. This self-consciousness lends many of the sitters a human element that we can easily relate to. This is such an interesting approach during a time when few trusted the ability of any politician to demonstrate any element of humanity. This unique object is, therefore, a historical, cultural, social, and political artifact of incredible importance. To appear at a time when issues regarding the economy, politics, and defense have created strong opposing forces in the United States, allows even the general public to understand the object's magnitude. In addition to its historical value, the 31-portrait object is also a work of considerable aesthetic impact put together by a photographer of great art historical importance.
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