Product Description

"Performance" sizzles with the electric charge that passes between a great photographer and an incandescent artist when they share a purpose and a passion. The photographer Richard Avedon had, in his own words, 'a passion for high-definition performance and a faith in the religion of perpetual acceleration'. Or, as critic John Lahr says of Avedon, 'He was ravished by the articulate energy of great performers'. The preeminent stars and artists of the performing arts from the second half of the twentieth century offered Avedon their greatest gifts - and, sometimes, their inner lives.More than two hundred of them are portrayed in "Performance", many in photographs that have rarely or never been seen before. Of course, the great stars light the way: Hepburn and Chaplin, Monroe and Garland, Brando and Sinatra. But here too are the actors and comedians, pop stars and divas, musicians and dancers, artists in all mediums with public lives that were and are essentially performances. The celebrated author and critic John Lahr offers an elegant assessment of Avedon's achievement. Four supremely talented artists from the performing arts - Mike Nichols, Andre Gregory, Mitsuko Uchida and Twyla Tharp - contribute lively and moving memoirs about their collaborations with Avedon. Finally, "Performance" is a remarkable achievement in book-making, from its innovative portfolio binding to the superb quality of its printing.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9106 in Books
• Published on: 2008-10-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

Review
A magnificent compilation of over 200 photographs, many of them unknown.
--Intelligent Life (The Economist) September 2008

About the Author
Richard Avedon was one of the most influential photographers of the second half of the twentieth century. His portrait work comprises an authoritative record of his era. Avedon re-definied the fashion photograph. In 1992 he was named the first staff photographer in the history of The New Yorker. John Lahr is Senior Drama Critic of the New Yorker. Mike Nichols in an award-winning stage and film director, writer and producer. Andre Gregory is an American director and actor. Mitsuko Uchida is a highly acclaimed classical pianist. Twyla Tharp is an award-winning dancer and choreographer.

Customer Reviews

Comments by Michael Calum Jacques author of '1st Century Radical'.
This fascinating book could be described as a collaborative effort and can best be enjoyed for what it is when we know something of the variety of characters contained within its pages.

Richard Avedon was born in to a Jewish-Russian family in New York on May 15, 1944 He commenced his career as a photographer in 1942, taking identification pictures of the seamen. In 1946, Avedon established his own studio and producing material for a list of illustrious publications which includied Vogue magazine. Soon thereafter he became the main photographer for Harper's Bazaar. A main characteristic of Avedon's style of work was that his photographs conveyed three dimensional models with vivacity; laughing, smiling, or, at other times, being `snapped' whilst involved in a particular activity.

Avedon later broadened his repertoire and even photographed patients of sanitariums, as well as more `mainstream' subjects such as protesters of the Vietnam War and the demise of the Berlin Wall. Avedon also produced a couple of distinctive - and now famous -shots of The Beatles as well as the portrait material contained within the The White Album (1968).

Sadly, Richard Avedon died while shooting an assignment for The New Yorker in San Antonio, Texas, on October 1, 2004. Even then, at this advanced stage of his career, he was still a formidable, original, creative force, undertaking and allocating time for new, challenging projects of divers sorts.

So, with such a pedigree - and we have not mentioned Avedon's fascination with other groups and `types' within society, nor details of his connection with other elements of the press or publishing industry here - it is easy to understand why any volume, collaborative or otherwise, from such a fascinating, iconic photographer (and this reviewer is not given to using such terms lightly) .

This volume can be recommended for a number of reasons. It features work produced by Avedon in the life and works of members of the performing arts; to be more precise, John Lahr is the son of actor Bert Lahr, but is well accredtited in his own right. He is now the Senior Drama Critic of The New Yorker and, in 2002, became the first drama critic ever to win a Tony Award. Mike Nichols has won an American Emmy Award, an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, and also a Tony Award (as stage and film director, writer, and producer). André Gregory is both an American director and actor. He appeared as the title character in My Dinner with Andre. Mitsuko Uchida is a classical pianist, perhaps best, but by no means exclusively, known for her performances of Mozart (especially the Sonata in C), Beethoven, and Schubert. Her father has been the Japanese ambassador to Austria. Twyla Tharp is an American dancer and choreographer and is the author of `Push Comes to Shove' (1999) and `The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life' (2006).

As a person who engages with images as types of sources, reflecting stages and epochs of history, this reviewer enjoyed this volume and can warmly recommend it even though the `images' are more biographical in some ways. It will not be to everyone's taste, but it undoubtedly offers a fascinating and quite compendious view on the subjects outlined and captured. Each reader and viewer will most probably take something valuable to their own `self', image and portrait.

Michael Calum Jacques (author of 1st Century Radical: the shadowy origins of the man who became known as Jesus Christ)