CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 4/11/2023

A photographic goldmine in 'Richard Avedon: Relationships'

Truman Capote, New York, October 10, 1955, is reproduced from new release Richard Avedon: Relationships, collecting the inimitable photographer’s portraits of sitters with whom he developed strong bonds over time. Capote became much more than a subject over decades of collaboration. Here, he is pictured at just thirty-one years old. “The photographer’s choice of a pose underscores the vulnerability of the young Capote—he is laid bare for our scrutiny and delectation,” Rebecca A. Senf writes. “Avedon’s last portrait of Capote was taken in 1974 when the writer was fifty. The lithe sensuality of the earlier image is gone. Avedon now focuses on Capote’s head—which fills much of the frame—off center and sitting atop a dark shirt, jacket, and bowtie. Capote looks out from puffy eyes, his thinning hair retreating from his spotted forehead. A large welt on his head and a raised sore on his lower lip make you wonder: ‘What has happened here?’ The mind that produced some of America’s most acclaimed writings of the twentieth century is there, but instead, we see the face, with its age and damage. The fluid motion and grace of the younger man’s body have been replaced by a set jaw and an intractable stare. Each of these portraits of Capote is enriched by the other, and by knowing that Avedon was not just Capote’s photographer, but his friend and collaborator.”