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RICHARD AVEDON (American, b. 1923) WILLIAM BURROUGHS signed “Avedon” in black ink on verso artist...

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:4,000.00 - 6,000.00 USD
RICHARD AVEDON (American, b. 1923) WILLIAM BURROUGHS signed “Avedon” in black ink on verso artist...
RICHARD AVEDON
(American, b. 1923)
WILLIAM BURROUGHS
signed “Avedon” in black ink on verso
artist’s stamp with copyright information, negative number “11” and edition, title and date inscribed in ink on verso
gelatin silver print
915?16 x 715?16 in. (25.2 x 20.2 cm)
July 9, 1975
this print is number 8
from an edition of 50
ESTIMATE: $4,000-6,000
PROVENANCE
Christie’s NEW YORK, October 8, 1993, lot 453
From an Important European Collection
LITERATURE
Richard Avedon, RICHARD AVEDON, PHOTOGRAPHER: SEPTEMBER 10- OCTOBER 4, 1975, NEW YORK, Marlborough Gallery exh. cat., 1975, pl. 86 (illustrated)
Jane Livingston and Adam Gopnik, EVIDENCE 1944-1994, RICHARD AVEDON, NEW YORK, Random House in association with the Whitney Museum of American Art exh. cat., 1994, p. 156 (illustrated)
RICHARD AVEDON PORTRAITS, NEW YORK, Harry N. Abrams in association with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2002, n.p. (illustrated)
This portrait of William Burroughs was selected for an exhibit at the Marlborough Gallery in 1975, widely considered the most significant show of Avedon’s career. Collaborating with his friend and colleague, art director
Marvin Israel, Avedon presented only portraits, establishing their importance in his oeuvre. Their significance was reinforced in 2002, when the Metropolitan Museum of Art presented Richard Avedon: Portraits. A previous Avedon exhibition at the museum occurred in 1978, but mainly focused on Avedon’s fashion photography.
Presented in Avedon’s trademark style, this portrait also pays close attention to the cropping. Here the writer is in motion, as if he has just spoken and is waiting for a response. As Avedon does best, we are confronted again with one of the notable personalities of his day.