A renowned fashion photographer for Harper’s Bazaar in the 1940s and 1950s, Richard Avedon became one of the major portraitists of his generation, known for his iconic images of political, literary, and art figures. This photograph, however, is of a more personal and intimate nature. It focuses on his terminally ill father, Jacob Israel Avedon, whom Richard Avedon photographed regularly from 1969 until his father’s death in 1973.
Born in Russia in 1889, Jacob Israel Avedon endured a difficult childhood in the United States, including several years in an orphanage. The starkly raw composition captures him at the end of his life. When asked how he felt about taking photographs of his dying father, Richard Avedon replied that these images represent “what it is to be any one of us.”