To accompany an exhibition at the Image Centre in Toronto and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, this volume of nearly 100 images represents a particular focus of the work of eminent photographer Richard Avedon (1923-2004): aging. Famous for his fashion photos and celebrity portraits, Avedon takes an unsparing view of famous people in old (or older) age. Dorothy Parker, for example, was 65 when he photographed her. With deep bags under her eyes, she looks, curator Vince Aletti notes, “like she hasn’t slept or been entirely sober for years.” Aletti is among several writers providing context and commentary on the images: Others are Roth, director of the Image Centre; New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik, who was a close friend of Avedon; and Gaëlle Morel, exhibitions curator of the Image Centre. Along with an introduction, Roth contributes an informative biographical essay on Avedon’s father, Jacob Israel Avedon, the subject of Avedon’s first exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, in 1974. The images, which document Jacob Israel’s dying from advanced liver cancer, proved controversial: Some critics saw them as exploitative, a form of patricide, while others praised the intimate photographs as “profound and moving.” Readers are likely to find some images familiar: Ronald Reagan, casting a suspicious glance; the deeply lined faces of Samuel Beckett and Stephen Sondheim. Although a few sitters looked pleased—Arthur Schlesinger, for one, looks rather self-satisfied—fewer look happy. Two exceptions are Marguerite Duras, who exudes impish joy, even as her health is declining, and a nun, Soeur Emmanuelle, who looks positively ecstatic. Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy appears resigned—perhaps to having her portrait taken, or, more likely, to old age. Capturing fragility and pain, Avedon, at the same time, honors his subjects’ dignity.
