Avendon Teacher Packet - Grand Rapids Art Museum

Teacher
Resource
Packet
Richard Avedon
Larger Than Life
The following materials are intended to assist teachers in taking advantage
of the unique learning experiences provided by the Grand Rapids Art Museum.
Introduction
Born in 1923 to the Jewish co-owner of a women’s clothing store
on 5th avenue in New York City, it seems Richard Avedon was poised to become
a fashion photographer. No one could have predicted, however, the way he
would literally reinvent the fashion photograph as a concept again and again over
five decades of changing beliefs about beauty. Avedon took his first published
photograph at 21, before even entering college. It was these accomplishments
that lead to jobs as a staff photographer for Harpers Bazaar, and subsequently
Vogue and The New Yorker.
After World War II fashion photography was ripe for a makeover. Previous
periods had generally relied on an overly idealized model, posed at the center of
a constructed scene. Avedon revolutionized the way the subject of a model was
approached: in his hands she became less an object and more a person. His
compositions featured women dancing, jumping and acting out elaborate
melodramas all in fantastic designer gowns. Avedon photographed some of the
most noteworthy models of the twentieth century such as Twiggy, Suzy Parker,
Jean Shrimpton and Penelope Tree. He also photographed the first African
American model, Donyale Luna, for a major American fashion magazine in 1965.
Avedon’s photographs embraced movement in a way that filled them with life and
made even the most inaccessible fashion seem comfortable.
To say his career is limited to the fashion world would be shortsighted,
however. In 1962 Avedon showed some of what he considered his more serious
work at the Smithsonian Museum. It would not be until 1970, when the
Minneapolis Institute of Arts put on a more widely received exhibition, that these
photographs received real critical attention. The work consisted of a large body
of portraits taken over the course of several decades and included the famous
and un-famous alike. Avedon’s approach was to place his subjects in front of a
large, solid white backdrop, which had the effect of isolating his subjects in empty
space. He was equally praised and criticized for his stark, stripped-down
approach to portraiture. Some asserted the portraits, “strip their subjects of
dignity and worth,” while others claimed, “this is what the twentieth century is
going to look like in one hundred years.”
In 1978, after several more successful shows including one that consisted
entirely of photographs of his dieing father in 1974 at MoMA, Avedon took his
now signature style to a commission from the Amon Carter Museum of Western
Art. Over the previous years the backgrounds of his photographs had become
sparser and sparser until finally all content and color was eliminated entirely,
leaving a solid white space. Over the next seven years, Avedon would continue
taping white backgrounds to, “a wall, a building, sometimes the side of a trailer,”
and photographing coal miners, drifters and rattlesnake collectors alike. Again,
this exhibition, called In the American West, was met with mixed reviews but over
time has often been considered Avedon’s greatest masterpiece.
Five years after In the American West, Avedon would leave Vogue to join the
staff of the New Yorker in 1990. Avedon died in 2004 of a brain hemorrhage
while on assignment in San Antonio, Texas; he was 81.
The Tour
Richard Avedon,
Self Portrait
Provo, Utah
August 20, 1980
Dovima with elephants,
Evening dress by Dior
Cirque díHiver,
Paris,
August.1955
THE Goal
Mary Watts,
Factory Worker,
and Her Niece
Tricia
Steward,
Sweetwater,
Texas,
March 10, 1979
in
focusing on these three
works is to give students an
introduction to the diverse
types
of
photographs
included in Richard Avedon’s body of work. In his fashion
work, exemplified by Dovima with Elephants, students can
learn about the more formal elements of Avedon’s
photography: His use of line, form, contrast, balance and
movement. In Mary Watts, Factory Worker we see an
example of Avedon’s work from In the American West and his
signature style of portraiture with solid white backgrounds
and emotional resonance. Avedon’s Self-Portrait introduces
the man himself along with what he chooses to reveal about
himself to the camera. In all three photographs students will
notice the performance aspect of Avedon’s work, whether it is a model performing with
elephants, the coaxing of some ordinary people to perform as themselves for a portrait,
or the photographer performing for his own camera. Avedon believed in the idea of
making photographs as the document of some type of performance. In his fashion work
it is one of the ways he set himself apart, by creating elaborate plots and in many ways
transforming his models into actresses within a fabricated storyline. When it came to his
portraits, Avedon saw the performance as how he interacted with the subject.
Regardless of what their familiarity with him was, he always noted that there was a way
they chose to portray themselves for the camera, which reflected how they wanted to be
seen. His assistant Laura Wilson once said, “He’d wait for what Eudora Wetty called ‘a
story writer’s truth…the moment in which people reveal themselves.” This idea is
especially interesting when considering Avedon’s self-portrait, and what possible things
he may have wanted to say, or reveal about himself.
Activities
The following activities are meant to offer ways that students can further expand
their discussion on the things they have learned while attending the exhibition
and also make connections to other areas within the classroom. These activities
are meant to be adapted for different age levels and were created to correspond
to Michigan’s state learning standards.
Studio Lesson
This is a three-part lesson that can be taught over a number of class periods or
broken apart and used as individually.
Part 1: Discussion
Have students bring to class examples of photographs they have taken.
Compare their photographs with those by Richard Avedon. Ask students to
describe the situations in which they have their pictures taken and how that is
different than the situation of the people in the Avedon photographs. What is the
purpose of the photographs? How does that affect the look of the photographs?
In your discussion have the students describe what they see in the photographs.
Ask questions like “What is going on here, what do you see that makes you say
that, and what more can we find?” You can also talk about what can be
conveyed about a person through body language, pose, and clothing. Ask
students to describe how the different people in the photographs seemed to feel.
Were they happy? Sad? Angry? How do they show these feelings? Ask the
students to stand or move the way the subjects of the photographs stand or
move and describe how it feels to be in that position.
Part 2: Photo shoot
In this activity, students will have the opportunity to be the photographer as well
as be the subject. You will need a digital camera and a white background such
as a sheet, white board, or wall. A tripod might be helpful but not necessary.
Divide the class into groups. This will make it easier for the students to rotate
between photographer and subject. Before any pictures are taken, ask the
students to think about what they would like to convey about themselves in the
photograph. Are they shy? Do they like football? Each student should have the
opportunity to be photographed at least once and be the photographer of at least
one other student. To extend the activity you could make the camera and
background available for a week and during that time take photographs of
anyone who visits the classroom. This could be other teachers, aids, parents,
etc. This would give a greater variety of people to choose from for Part 3.
Part 3: Exhibition
For In the American West, Richard Avedon took over 700 photographs but only
chose 100+ to be in the final exhibition. He went through an extensive editing
process to choose his images and now it is time for the students to choose the
photographs they would like to exhibit. As a class, take time to look at many of
the photographs and discuss which are the best and why. Have the students
think about a theme for the exhibition. This may help them choose images.
Then have the class choose 10-15 to be printed. Avedon’s work was produced
in a variety of sizes. His early portraits were smaller. However, he also worked
on a life-size scale. Choose what size best fits your exhibition space.
Writing Lessons
Creative Writing
Ask students to choose their favorite photograph from the exhibition and write a
short story that ends at the point were the photograph was taken. Ask them to
take either the photographer’s perspective or the perspective of the people in the
photograph. Some questions to ask might be: What was the course of events
that lead to this photograph? How did this person/these people feel about having
their photograph taken? If there are multiple people in the photograph, how do
they respond to each other? If you could hear this photograph, what would it
sound like? What were the problems/obstacles that needed to be overcome to
create this photograph? What kinds of things might the photographer have said
to them; did he convince them to be photographed or did they come to him?
Research Based Writing
Over the course of his career, Richard Avedon photographed a diverse variety of
people from various social and economic situations. This show is an excellent
opportunity to discuss the diversity of race, culture, class and religion. Students
may choose to research or discuss one area of Avedon’s photography, such as
his portraits of celebrities or photographs of working class people from In the
American West or they may choose to compare and contrast the two. Questions
for students to respond to might include: How did Avedon portray this person?
What did do you think he wished to encompass in this photograph? How was he
successful? How was he unsuccessful? Would you say that Avedon’s various
choices in background are symbolic? How does it influence the way these
people are perceived?
Students might also choose to consider the performance aspect expressed by
Avedon about his form of portrait photography. Do you think photographs are
absolute, meaning that they reflect exactly what is in front of the camera, or do
you think the photographer manipulates them?
Another approach may be to have students respond to quotes from Avedon
himself such as:
“There is no such thing as inaccuracy in a photograph. All photographs are
accurate. None of them is the truth.”
Or
“An Artist has to study, to scrutinize, to find the garbage essential, relevant, in an
effort to close the gap between what happened and what we understand.”
Or
(A quote from Into the West by Laura Wilson) “…I spoke with Hansel Burum, one
of the miners, and asked him what he’d thought when he saw Dick’s portrait of
him. ‘He knew what he wanted,’ said Burum. ‘My father was killed in the
Somerset Mine, my two brothers work there, and I’ve been in the mine now for
five years. I guess he wanted to get that feeling out of me.”
If you have art students, you might ask them to respond to these quotes by
creating a piece or a series of pieces in place of writing or discussion.
Curriculum Content Standards
and Bench Marks
Met Through A tour of the Exhibition and
Activities Provided in the
Teacher Resource Packet
Arts Education
•
•
•
•
All students will apply skills and knowledge to create in the arts
All students will analyze, describe, and evaluate works of art
All students will understand, analyze, and describe the arts in their
historical, social, and cultural contexts.
All students will recognize, analyze, and describe connections among the
arts; between the arts and other disciplines; and between the arts and
everyday life
Language Arts
•
•
•
•
•
All students will demonstrate the ability to write clear and grammatically
correct sentences, paragraphs, and compositions.
All students will focus on meaning and communication as they listen,
speak, view, read, and write in personal, social, occupational, and civic
contexts.
All students will learn to communicate information accurately and
effectively and demonstrate their expressive abilities by creating oral,
written, and visual texts that enlighten and engage an audience.
All students will define and investigate important issues and problems
using a variety of resources, including technology, to explore and create
texts.
All students will apply knowledge, ideas, and issues drawn from texts to
their lives and the lives of others.
Social Studies
•
•
Students use knowledge of the past to construct meaningful
understanding of our divers cultural heritage and to inform their civic
judgments.
All student sill understand narratives about major eras of American and
world history by identifying the people involved, describing the setting, and
sequencing the events.
Vocabulary
Digital Print: A photographic print created from a digital photograph or
image, and printed by an ink jet printer.
Silver-Gelatin Print: A photographic print created in a darkroom by
projecting light through a negative to create an imprint on a special type of paper,
which is then developed into a photograph through the use of several chemical
baths.
Negative: The reverse of a photographic image on transparent material used
for printing positive pictures. It is created by exposing the material on the
negative to light through a camera and then developing the image through a
chemical process.
Darkroom: A room with no light or with a safelight for developing lightsensitive photographic materials.
Portrait: A representation of a person, usually showing the face.
Suggested Reading
“The Richard Avedon Foundation.”
http://www.richardavedon.com/#mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=5&a=0&p=11&at=3
Avedon, Richard. An Autobiography. New York: Random House, 1993.
Avedon, Richard. In the American West. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1985.
Goldberg, Vicki. Light Matters: Writings on Photography. New York: Aperture,
2005.
Hall-Duncan, Nancy. The History of Fashion Photography. New York: H.N.
Abrams, 1978.
Wilson, Laura. Avedon at work: In the American West. Austin: University of
Texas Press, 2003.
Educational tools
YouTube: How to Use an Enlarger
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgSUz-2Ra5o
PBS: American Masters
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/avedon_r.html
Richard Avedon
Teacher Resource Packet
Evaluation Form
Please complete and return this evaluation via fax, mail, or when you arrive for your tour. Your
feedback is greatly appreciated and will be used to guide the development of future teacher
packets and educational resources.
Teacher Name:
School and District:
Grade Level and Subjects Taught:
Which parts of this teacher packet did you find to be most useful?
What information would have made this teacher packet more useful to you?
Additional comments:
Thank you for your time.
Please return this evaluation to:
GRAM Education Department
101 Monroe Center
Grand Rapids, MI 49503
or
Fax: 616-242-5034