Richard Avedon

Avedon’s distinctive style made him one of the great photographic portraitists. He and Baldwin were school-mates and lasting close friends, collaborating over a 30-year period. As a ten-year-old, Avedon photographed Rachmaninoff, living in the same building as his grandparents. Among others he portrayed, he read Kipling to Borges, played lawn-darts with de Kooning, caught Williams and Pound at their last meeting, and Chaplin on his final day in America. Arbus, Capote and Tharp were close friends. Astaire gave him a pair of shoes that didn’t fit (and played a character based on Avedon). Frank found him pretentious and pushy.