Richard Avedon: Facing West

15 January – 14 March 2026

An exhibition of rare prints from the photographic series In the American West (1979–84) by Richard Avdeon, curated by the photographer’s granddaughter, Caroline Avedon, including works that have not been shown since their debut in 1985.

In the American West, an extended series commissioned by and first exhibited at the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, celebrated its fortieth anniversary in 2025. At the time of its debut in 1985, Avedon was well known for fashion photography, portraits of people in power, and his work with the civil rights movement. These images, which picture the heart and soul of hardscrabble, working-class America, represented a significant new development in his work. Returning to the series four decades after its initial unveiling, Facing West prompts reflection on the evolving interpretation of its imagery and on the series’ status as its maker’s magnum opus.

Avedon spent five years, from 1979 to 1984, travelling to twenty-one US states. He conducted more than a thousand sittings, finally producing 126 editioned images, 21 of which are on view in London. With the help of introductions made by an assistant, Laura Wilson, he selected a wide variety of people to photograph, representing a range of professions and rural pastimes, and depicting often-overlooked subjects, from drifters to coal miners. Regarding his portraits as subjective interpretations (“All photographs are accurate,” he stated. “None of them is the truth”), Avedon often confronted suffering but succeeded in conveying the hidden strength of his subjects, instilling the project with a sense of hope. Seeking human connection, he stood outdoors and next to the camera to engage with his subjects, who, in a departure from the conventions of series portraiture, he also named and defined, resisting both generalisation and idealisation.

Free

Hours: Tuesday–Saturday 10–6

Lead image: Richard Avedon, James Story, cola miner, Somerset, Colorado, December 18, 1979 ©The Richard Avedon Foundation