Avedon's France : old world, new look

Summary/Review: Exploring Richard Avedon's fascination with France, Avedon's France brings together a collection of spectacular photographs; selected interviews, letters, publications, and writings (including new material from the Avedon Foundation archives) and substantive essays by the authors. In addition to five portfolios of French sitters spanning a lifetime of portraiture, it looks at Avedon's apprenticeship to his mentor, Alexei Brodovitch; his encounters with French fashion; his idealised version of Paris in the movie Funny Face; his fresh take on the Belle Epoque in his book on Jacques-Henri Lartigue, Diary of a Century; and his fruitful association with the magazine Egoiste later in his life. Avedon's France offers a full account of Avedon's restless pursuit of new ways of looking at the world, and it reveals a master image maker, a true artist for his time.