[Leica] Richard Avedon's work

[abridge at gmail.com (Adam Bridge)]

Having just toured the Richard Avedon exhibit at the SF MOMA I came
away with a few questions I thought this knowledgeable group (note
intense use of flattery) could answer:

I notice that many of his images seemed to indicate he had selected
out of many exposures. Since many of these were 8 x 10 I'm wondering
if the unpublished negatives are still around and a part of his estate
or were they destroyed? I kept wanting to see the sequence of which
the chosen image was a part. I know that Adams' work is all stored and
available to the appropriate researchers, or at least that it's mostly
all still around. I loved Avedon's western images most of all, I
think. Although there was a metzo-soprano portrait (I really really
need to remember to take a notebook with me when I go to these things)
that made me want to know her which always speaks well for a portrait.
I keep wondering how people felt about their portraits. Did Kate
Hepburn like hers? Seen full size the Marilyn photo is really amazing.

Did Avedon do his own printing or did have a favorite printer/printers
he worked with? In NYC I'm imaging there were and still are some
pretty fabulous darkroom practitioners for whom printing is their
livelyhood and primary skill. Probably elsewhere also, of course.

How the heck did they print a huge image like the one of Andy Warhol
and the Factory? It's huge.

There were many striking images but the one that really knocked my
socks off was on display at the very entrance to the gallery. It's at
sunset on Venice's Muscle Beach and has a man holding a young boy up
over his head in the palm of his hand. The image is very very grainy.
It's almost a charcoal sketch. But for me it's everything wonderful
about a particularly interpretive style of black and white photography
I don't associate with Avedon at all. I'd love to know how it was
made. Since it dates from the early 60s I can't even guess. Looks to
be medium format since the print is square.

Also at SF MOMA, ending today, is the Adams and O'Keeffe exhibit. I
enjoyed it but came away enjoying O'Keeffe's early work more than her
later work. Only one painting really grabbed me: "Dry Falls".