Area 77

Richard Avedon was an American photographer who began his career in the 1940s. He is well known for being a successful photographer who worked for high fashion magazines such as Vogue, Life, and Harper’s Bazaar. He was also very interested in portraiture and took many portraits of celebrities in the movie and music industries. He believed that portraits were the best way to look into and discover a person’s soul.

After building a reputation for being a great photographer to the stars, he decided to find other subjects to shoot. Avedon was deeply intrigued by the blue-collar workers of the West in the late 1970s and early 1980s. This resulted in a multi-state trip across the West photographing people in various states of appearances and financial statuses.

Published in 1985, In the American West features over 120 portraits. They are all in black and white and are as simple as a portrait can get. The way the subjects ‘look’ gave me the impression that most of them were hard-working town folk struggling to get by. But there were a couple of photographs that were of a different kind. They were of abstract personalities that contrasted the serious depictions of the other people. I think that Avedon included them to further underline the fact that America is filled with people from all stages and facets of life.

The photographs are extremely detailed. Every wrinkle, hair, and scar is clearly seen and little is done to hide them. Avedon developed the prints to have as much contrast as possible, always making the backdrop as white as white can get. This helped make the figures stand out more and further defined their physical features.

In the book there are photographs of teenagers, fathers, mothers, oil field workers, coal miners, drifters, cowboys, convicts, carnies, farm workers, and others. All of them appear to be trying not to let themselves become exposed. It is said that Richard Avedon sat and conversed with each subject before a shoot. Some were cheerful and some were stressed and emotional, but they all tried to hide whatever it was when they stood in front of the camera. They appear to be expressionless at first, but looking deeper into the photographs and studying the stances and physical knick-knacks of their bodies reveals so much information about themselves. More than they would have liked to share at least.

All of the photographs were taken in roughly the same way. The subject stands facing and looking straight at the camera with a brilliant white solid background behind them. In fact, he eliminates any reference to a landscape completely, an integral part of the glorified image of the West. I don’t know if Avedon let them know the precise moment that he took the photographs of if he prepared them with a countdown of some sort. But it appears to me that that was not the case. I think he took the shots at random moments. This minimalist approach to the photographs served its purpose well. Only the essential elements are seen in the photograph and those elements are the subjects themselves and what they have to offer of themselves.

An example of this minimalist style of photography, that result in the multiple interpretations of the stories behind the subjects is the image titled Bubba Morrison, Oil Field Worker, Albany, Texas, June 10, 1979. All that is standing there is a boy not much older than 16 or 17 wearing a sleeveless shirt, cap, and pants. He is completely covered in grime and is awkwardly standing with his arms across is stomach. His facial expression is unusual coming from a seemingly adult worker. It is the facial expression a child makes when he wants to let his parents know that he is sad or is upset with them. Maybe he really is. Perhaps he was forced to grow up quickly, rushed through childhood, and felt that it was necessary to start making a living right away. With that photograph that has very few things to look at, in fact only one thing, I was able to conjure up this boy’s life story thanks to his completely natural contribution.

Another photograph that demonstrates Avedon’s effective minimalist style of portraiture is the two-page spread titled Jesus Cervantes and Manuel Heredia, prisoners, Bexar County Jail, San Antonio, Texas, June 5, 1980. Unlike the oil field worker covered in grime and experiencing a temporary emotion, these two persons have nothing but their physical bodies and the permanent mementos to tell their story. They both stand side by side almost identical. The only thing different between them is that one of them is missing an arm. They share the same Jesus tattoo covering most of their chest, and the same scars on their torso and face. This resemblance gives me the impression that these two were partners in crime and will probably remain partners for the rest of their lives.

Clarence Lippard, Drifter, Interstate 80, Sparks, Nevada, August 29, 1983 probably is the best example in the book for using so little to say so much. This man looks to be in his 60s but he probably is middle aged. Age plays a big role in this photograph as it helps tell this man’s story. His face is completely covered by freckles, whether they are genetic or from working in the sun for many years is unknown, but either way it is a given that this drifter has been through tough times as most of the subjects in this book have. Avedon keeps the wrinkles intact and completely visible to us, telling us that this man is a tired man. He is tired but not broken. The right side of this two-page spread tells us that even though he goes through times of unemployment, he is a proud man. The solid arm on the hip and the face titled upwards to look down on the camera tells me that he still has pride and dignity, and that he demands the respect of others as well.

One can say that the photographs are structured to be an ‘in-your-face’ form. I would say that that is true since the subjects are literally standing right up to the camera. They are hiding nothing from me. They haven’t glammed themselves up as the models do in fashion photography, nor did they do any type of posing as well. Instead, the style is very harsh. The subjects appear as they are, without any editing to hide any unacceptable blemishes, dirt, markings, or scars. All is revealed. In fact, those infractions are very welcomed to Avedon in this book because without them, most of the portraits would have nothing to tell us about the their subjects.

The best photo that I think demonstrates this blunt appearance is Red Owens, oil field worker, Velma, Oklahoma, June 12, 1980. The subject almost looks like a tribe warrior. He is a large stocky man with a long thick beard and is completely covered in oil, grime, and sweat. The oil streaks on his arms and the white paint-like substance on his face looks as if it were war paint and that he is ready to face battle. The only gentle things about him are his eyes. In fact, they are the only clean things on him as well. Avedon helps us see that behind that rough exterior there could have been a loving family man with a wife and kids to go home to after a hard day of work at the oil field.

Boyd Fortin, Thirteen Year Old Rattlesnake Skinner, Sweetwater, Texas, March 10, 1979 is also a straightforward portrait. It is a boy displaying his line of work. This is who he is and what he does. His face is as intense as his craft. With blood and rattlesnake guts spattered all over him, it is hardly an activity a boy his age would do for fun. Unlike the other photographs I mentioned, I cannot think up a situation or story for this boy. His extreme concentration is intimidating and that is without considering the fact that he is a rattlesnake skinner.

Some might view the book as a collection of sad people with gloomy lives, but that is not necessarily the case. Richard Avedon specifically chose the photographs himself and there is a reason he included many hard working folk and few where there is someone actually smiling. It was important for him to clearly illustrate the dismal state of the people of the West but he did not want to completely erase any signs of hope, pride, and the everyday joys of living no matter what the socio-economic might be, which is a right allotted to all people living in America.

What better way to tell the American public that the glamorized West seen in Hollywood movies is a myth than by showing them in photographs that allow the viewer to see right into these people’s souls. Richard Avedon captured those souls beautifully and presented them in the simplest way possible. Of the countless photographs of people that he took in the five years he spent working on this project, only 124 were chosen to be in the book. We can only imagine what the unpicked portraits would have looked like. Who would they have been and what would they have told us, that is unknown. What is known however is that together they all represented the true image of the American West.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008 at 5:32 pm and is filed under Cartoons/Art, Cool. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.