The Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation is unveiling, for the first time in Europe, the entire collection of Richard Avedon's legendary series In the American West . A raw and moving journey into 1980s America.
In 1979, Richard Avedon, famous for his polished portraits of stars and iconic fashion campaigns, undertook a U-turn. Leaving his Manhattan studios behind, he set out to explore the American West. Over the course of five years, he photographed more than a thousand faces: miners, cowboys, factory workers, and marginalized people, using a large-format camera and a stark white background.
The result: In the American West , a series of 103 black-and-white portraits that reinvents the codes of documentary portraiture. Forget the grandiose landscapes and heroic figures of the Western: here, the West is rough, tired, often damaged, but infinitely human. Each face becomes a territory to explore, each look, a story.
To mark the 40th anniversary of this monumental work, the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson is exhibiting the entire series for the first time in Europe, accompanied by previously unseen documents: Polaroids, annotated prints, and letters exchanged with the models. It's a way to delve into the intimacy of Avedon's process, to grasp the rigor and empathy behind each shot. Far from presenting an idealized American folklore, this exhibition questions identity, dignity, work, and solitude. It resonates powerfully today, at a time when America's forgotten faces are once again at the center of debate.
“Richard Avedon – In the American West”
Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation
79, rue des Archives, Paris 3rd
From April 30 to October 12, 2025
