Richard Avedon has died

Andy Grundberg has been kept busy writing photographers' obituaries, unfortunately.

My wife and I went to see Avedon's retrospective at the Met in 2002. I can't remember technically how the work was created, but most of the images were large format, black and white, with the exception of a handful of really big mural-sized prints and two sets of 8x10s worked into a grid, much how the Bechers displayed their typographies. These grid presentations were the best parts of the show. The larger pieces had to be absorbed one at a time and one after another. By the time you reached the end of a wall, they began to feel gimmicky. But the smaller, grid format allowed you to survey a large array of mostly political portraits and make comparisons between the likes of Kissinger, Reagan, Tip O'Neal, etc.

I have frequently complained about the New Yorker's incessant publication of Avedon photos in each week's issue. I am unfamiliar with the magazine prior to, say, 1996, so, I was not aware of what a novelty photography in the magazine was, nor did I realize until just a few months ago that Avedon was the magazine's photo editor. Still, I think the magazine would've been better served to use the talents of other, less well-known (and less wealthy) photographers. Now, I suppose, they will have no choice.