More than a face-to-face meeting, it’s a real conversation. So what might Richard Avedon, a legend of fashion photography who died in 2004, and Tyler Mitchell, who, at 29 years old, have made a meteoric rise in the same field since he immortalized Beyoncé for Voguein 2018? The young American imagined this dialogue with his compatriot through their images for the stand of the Gagosian gallery, present at the Paris Photo festival.
Decades separate them, and worlds, one might think. And yet, their meeting proves to be most disturbing. Because Tyler Mitchell has an intimate knowledge of the immense work of his predecessor. From the beginning, she fed him and carried him. He became even more intensely attached to it on the occasion of the exhibition orchestrated by Gagosian for the centenary of Avedon’s birth, in 2023. One hundred artists and personalities were invited to select one of his photographs. Mitchell was one of them. “It awakened my desire to explore less visible parts of his archives”he says.
A double self-portrait particularly attracts him. Taken in 1946, it features 23-year-old Richard Avedon with James Baldwin, reflecting in a mirror at the writer’s mother’s house. The two had attended the same college in New York in the 1930s and then lost touch. This shot brought them together. “Their friendship then grew to culminate in their book of 1964, Without allusionrecalls Tyler Mitchell. This image highlights the power of long-term collaboration and how this type of lasting relationship can enrich creative work. »
“A visual tapestry of the world”
From this love at first sight, he explores all of Avedon’s work, beyond the clichés. “Too often we take his work for granted. I certainly did it myself, at first. His images are so iconic, so deeply ingrained in our collective unconscious, that it is easy to overlook their significance. But he knew how to embrace so many subjects! » Models, musicians, boxers, athletes, artists, politicians and everyone: “He captured everything about the era, creating a visual tapestry of the world as it was. » It is this same ambition which, Tyler Mitchell recognizes, drives him today: “Be bold in confronting everything that fascinates me, or challenges me. »
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