The Image CentreGarden District / TMU campus
Richard Avedon Immortal: Portraits of Aging, 1951–2004
Nearly 100 Avedon portraits confronting aging, from Toni Morrison to the Dalai Lama, plus a restaging of his 1974 MoMA series on his father Jacob Israel Avedon.
More in Toronto
You walk in and one of the first faces is Dorothy Parker's, photographed late in her life and printed large. The curator, Paul Roth, says that at this scale her face becomes "physically overwhelming". Avedon lit his famous sitters to show the wrinkles, scars and weary eyes that most portrait photographers hid.
Nearly 100 portraits from 1951 to 2004 fill the street-level main gallery: Toni Morrison, Truman Capote, Duke Ellington, Patti Smith, the Dalai Lama, Ronald Reagan, and faces fewer people know now, like the flamenco star Vicente Escudero. Across from it, a smaller room restages Avedon's 1974 MoMA show: nine portraits of his father in his last years with cancer.
Roth himself calls the pictures "sometimes uncomfortable to look at", and that small room is the hardest part. Admission is free. Wednesdays run until 8pm, with free drop-in tours at 1:30pm and 6pm (1:30pm Thursday to Sunday), and Roth gives a free curator talk on 14 October.
Editor's pick
Dorothy Parker, late in life, printed so large the curator calls her face "physically overwhelming". Nearly 100 Avedon portraits lit to show every wrinkle, from Toni Morrison to the Dalai Lama, and nine of his father in his final years.
Look for
Dorothy Parker, near the entrance
Look for the writer late in life, printed large and lit without mercy, among the first works you meet.
William Casby, 1963
A 106-year-old man born into slavery fills the frame against white, every wrinkle, pore and scar sharp; Avedon made it for a project with James Baldwin.
Marian Anderson singing
Hung near Casby, the opera singer is caught mid-performance in 1955, lips pursed, in the role of Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera.
The room for Avedon's father
Across from the main gallery, nine portraits restaged from the 1974 MoMA show follow his father's body through his final years with cancer.
Good for
- Cheap Culture
- Evening Visits
- Rainy Days
Skip if
You came for Avedon's fashion glamour: every picture here is about age, including nine of his dying father.
Also at The Image Centre
On now nearby
Nearby
Image credits
7
- Always In FashionPhoto by Darren Rigo.
- Made By Many: 50 Years of the Textile Museum of CanadaPhoto by Darren Rigo
- Retracing Tatreez: Palestinian Thobes through the 20th CenturyCourtesy of Textile Museum of Canada
- The Image CentreCanmenwalker / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
- Mackenzie HouseCan Pac Swire, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Textile Museum of CanadaRaysonho @ Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0
- Campbell House MuseumJK Liu / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0