PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBIT – Richard Avedon In the American West

Barbara: I wish I lived a little closer to Fort Worth because they have so many lovely museums. But I was willing to drive nearly an hour to see the Richard Avedon exhibit at the Amon Carter Museum.

I learned that he spent 6 years traveling to 189 towns in 17 states. Instead of photographing his usual celebrities, models and politicians he focused on “everyday people who work at hard, uncelebrated jobs, the people who are often overlooked.” The photos were pretty amazing. You can see the emotions on the faces of the people he shot – pride, despair, hardship, etc.

These were two of my favorites: the one of the drifter seemed to show to me both his pride as he held his shirt across his body and the hardship of his life etched in his face; the woman of the couple had a face that seemed resigned to a hard life and the man looked proud and determined but there was despair in both their faces.

What really got me were the photos of the children. I could have sworn the girl with the longer hair was at least in her late 20’s but she was only 13 as was the girl in the bonnet; the boy with the gun was 9 years old! I compare that to the photos of my kids when they were the same ages and you can just cry.

The exhibit will be at the museum until August 10^th I believe; if you can go I highly recommend it.