Avedon's West

A black-and-white portrait photograph of a White woman wearing a white cowboy hat and a jacket embellished with rhinestones in a floral pattern over a white blouse.
On view through October 1, 2023
Museum-wide

Spring 2023 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Richard Avedon, renowned fashion and portrait photographer. As part of a national celebration led by The Richard Avedon Foundation, the Carter is showcasing 13 works of art from the acclaimed project In the American West, which the Museum commissioned in 1979 and premiered in 1985. Over the course of six years, Avedon traveled through 17 states and 189 towns from Texas to Idaho, conducting 752 sittings and photographing a range of everyday people throughout the western U.S. in a now-iconic style he’d formerly applied to celebrities and politicians. The Carter owns one of only two complete sets of the series—one of the most important photographic projects of the 20th century. The selection of photographs from the series will be presented throughout the Museum’s collection galleries.

Header Image Credit

Richard Avedon (1923-2004), Ruby Mercer, publicist, Frontier Days, Cheyenne, Wyoming, 7/31/82, 1982, printed 1985, gelatin silver print, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, P1985.28.73, © The Richard Avedon Foundation