Kicking off the fall season in DC’s art world is the highly anticipated “Richard Avedon: Portraits of Power” opening at the Corcoran Gallery of Art on September 13th . 250 photographs, from 1957 to his death in 2004, illustrate how Avedon used his fame to access the elite, and photograph them.
Portraits of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, George W Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Barack Obama, John Stewart, Micheal Moore and Malcolm X to name a few. And one of my favorite, not person obviously, but anecdotes from “a sitter” by the name of Karl Rove. Rove called Avedon, “an elitist snob who deliberately set me up… The portrait is foolish, stupid and insulting. It makes me look like a complete idiot.”
Ummm, no comment
Tags: Specullector, Lauren Gentile, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Karl Rove Richard Avedon, Richard Avedon: Portraits of Power, Karl Rove Portrait
August 21, 2008 at 7:55 pm |
fave photo in the show!
this is great.
August 21, 2008 at 8:07 pm |
I preferred the image of Pirate John Ford. Also, a side note: the lighting was fantastic. Whoever was responsible for that deserves a hug.
July 7, 2009 at 6:01 am |
It is amazing that Avedon’s work enabled Karl Rove to realize his true human capacities. It is a shame the portrait didn’t occur much sooner to deter him from politics, and public interaction of any kind. The power of the image makes the case for maintaining creative freedoms in the world.