Digital Photography © 2017 SuZan Alexander

Our Artist Spotlight for May is American photographer, Richard Avedon. I have shared a few blog posts about Avedon this month (Featured below), but now it is time to bring it full circle with our book for the month. I searched for biographies and books that somehow related to Avedon and/or his work. I finally settled on Avedon at Work by Laura Wilson. While this book is not our typical “read”, I think it is an important glimpse behind the scenes that, in many ways, makes it more important than reading a 400-page biography.

I recently listened to an interview with Wilson on the Marfa NPR station and immediately sought out her work. So, when this opportunity came along to read about Avedon’s process while he was creating the In the American West series, as well as learn more about Wilson in the process; well, that is just a win-win situation in my opinion. In addition to the behind-the-scenes information on Avedon’s photographic approach, Wilson included notes and photographs she made which, in effect, lets us all tag along for the ride in the creative process of one of Avadon’s seminal bodies of work.

I was fortunate to visit the Amon Carter Museum last year when the Avedon in Texas: Selections From In the American West was on exhibit. I know that seeing a few of these images in person brought an added layer of interest for me while reading this book. But, if you have not seen these images in person, I think this book may just spark an interest to put it on your bucket list.

Now it is your turn. Do you have any suggestions for other books that allows us to learn more about Richard Avedon, and/or his creative process?

BOOK FOR JUNE

The 2018 hurricane season officially begins on June 1st, so I thought our book for June should be Isaac’s Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History by one of my favorite authors, Erik Larson. I realize the book has nothing to do with photography or art, but I am a Gulf Coast gal and I have no doubt that Larson will reward us with a good story.