An incredible 17,000 sheets of film, 752 sittings. Funded by the Amon Carter Museum to the tune of $100,000 between 1979-84. ($300,000 in 2025 money). The scale of the endeavour was remarkable.
I blame youtube for getting caught up on the Avedon 'American West' project. Once you watch one random video thrown up by the algorithm it feeds two more, then another couple. Et cetera, etc.
The unexpectedly wonderful surprise was 'Avedon at Work', a book of images and insights by Laura Wilson who had been his assistant in the project two decades prior. While the Avedon book timed out on my imagination many years ago to see the process and engagement brings it to life in a whole new dramatic and thrilling way. I've managed to resist buying any photography books for quite some time but I'm so tempted by this one.
When Avedon was commissioned by the Amon Carter Museum to create the images that would become In the American West, he needed an assistant to scout photographic possibilities. He found such a person in Laura Wilson, a young Dallas photographer. She began by searching out public functions where large groups of people gathered, events such as the Rattlesnake Roundup held each March in Sweetwater, Texas. She also researched background information about economic conditions in oil, mining and agriculture, along with listings of fairs, carnivals, and rodeos.
Once at the location, Wilson would seek out interesting-looking people, make suggestions to Avedon about subjects and approach people about the possibility of sitting for a portrait. During those six summers, Wilson approached 753 people; 752 agreed to sit. In the end, Avedon, Wilson and other assistants traveled through 13 states and 1,892 towns from Texas to Idaho.
“For me, it was a brilliant education,” Wilson said. “I was an apprentice in the classic tradition of art. Avedon seemed hardly to care about F-stops and shutter speeds. Rather, I learned what makes a powerful portrait. I became aware of those elements that give a portrait strength—the strength to hold up an entire wall of a museum.”
- from Amon Carter Museum
