From October 9, 2026, to January 31, 2027,Palazzo Esposizioni Roma presents *Richard Avedon. In the American West, 1979–1984, an exhibition dedicated to the historic series of portraits created by American photographer Richard Avedon (1923–2004) over the course of five years across the American West. Curated by Clément Chéroux, director of the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, the exhibition brings to Italy for the first time the entire series of 110 photographs collected in the book *In the American West*, published in 1985 by Harry N. Abrams, along with a selection of archival materials.
The exhibition, on view in Galleries 9, 10, 11, and 12 of Palazzo Esposizioni Roma, is sponsored by the Department of Culture of Roma Capitale and the Azienda Speciale Palaexpo, organized by the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson with works on loan from the Richard Avedon Foundation and in collaboration with the Azienda Speciale Palaexpo. The exhibition allows visitors to view the photographs in a form that most closely reflects the photographer’s original vision: the prints on display are, in fact, those used by Avedon for the publication of the book released in 1985.
When he began working on *In the American West* in the late 1970s, Avedon had already established himself as a leading figure in the international photography scene. He was best known for his fashion photography, produced for magazines such as *Harper’s Bazaar* and *Vogue*, and for his portraits of artists and public figures. He had also previously exhibited at major U.S. museums: in 1962, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., dedicated a retrospective to him, while in 1978, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York hosted a solo exhibition of his work.
The series originated in 1978, when Avedon, while convalescing in Montana, photographed Wilbur Powell, a ranch foreman. The portrait was published by Newsweek and caught the attention of Mitchell A. Wilder, then director of the Amon Carter Museum, who proposed that the photographer develop a project dedicated to the American West. Fieldwork began in March 1979 and concluded in October 1984. For five years, mainly during the spring and summer months, Avedon traveled through twenty-one states, stopping at places connected to the lives and work of local communities: truck stops, livestock markets, fairs, slaughterhouses, rodeos, mining camps, and oil fields.
During his travels, the photographer captured images of over a thousand people—women and men he encountered across various regions of the West. Miners, farmers, factory workers, truck drivers, laborers, and the unemployed thus became part of Avedon’s project, far removed from the circles of celebrity and public image. These are subjects the photographer chose to place at the center of the image and whom he described as the hidden strength of the United States.
The choice of subjects occurred at a specific moment in American history. Following the oil crisis of the late 1970s, the United States was undergoing a period of recession and deindustrialization that particularly affected the world of work. In this context, Avedon turned his attention to a reality far removed from the image of prosperity, success, and well-being propagated by American popular culture of the same period. The project therefore does not focus on the places or landscapes generally associated with representations of the West, but rather on the people the photographer encountered during his travels.
What makes *In the American West* immediately recognizable is the radical simplicity of its photographic composition. The subjects are portrayed head-on against a large white backdrop, hung outdoors and positioned in the shade. Avedon uses only natural light and a 20x25-centimeter large-format camera mounted on a tripod. The elimination of the surrounding context shifts the focus entirely to the person: the face, the body, the clothes, the gestures, and the expressions become the elements through which the image is constructed.
The visual simplicity of the photographs, however, is the result of a complex process based on the relationship between the photographer and the person in front of the lens. Each portrait, in fact, arises from a long period of observation and interaction. Avedon directs the pose, guides the movements, observes the subject’s reactions, and gradually creates the conditions necessary for the photograph to be taken. The portrait, therefore, is not merely a record of a presence, but becomes the result of an encounter in which reality and fiction intertwine.
Avedon himself challenges the idea of photography as an objective reproduction of reality. “A portrait is not a faithful reproduction,” the photographer wrote. “There is no such thing as inaccuracy: all photos are accurate, but none is the truth.” The relationship between what is observed and what is constructed is one of the central elements of the series and is also reflected in the materials accompanying the exhibition.
In addition to the 110 photographs, the exhibition features materials from the Richard Avedon Foundation’s archive. On display are handwritten notes, a selection of working Polaroids, and other documents drawn from the files Avedon compiled on individual subjects. These also include correspondence between the photographer and the people he portrayed. Together, these documents allow us to reconstruct part of the process behind the creation of the series, from the initial photo shoots through the selection of images, printing, publication of the book, and organization of the first exhibitions.
The exhibition features some of the best-known portraits Avedon created during the project. Among them is that of Ronald Fischer, a beekeeper from Davis, California, photographed on May 9, 1981, with his face and body covered by a swarm of bees. The image is the result of a carefully staged scene and takes the photographer’s reflection on the relationship between reality and artifice to the extreme. In this case, fiction becomes one of the tools through which Avedon seeks a deeper form of authenticity.
Alongside Fischer, the series includes Sandra Bennett, a 12-year-old girl photographed in Rocky Ford, Colorado, on August 23, 1980; David Beason, a freight forwarder, photographed in Denver, Colorado, on July 25, 1981; Jesse Kleinsasser, a pig farmer in a Hutterite colony in Harlowton, Montana, photographed on June 23, 1983; Ruby Mercer, a public relations officer during Frontier Days in Cheyenne, Wyoming, on July 31, 1982; Petra Alvarado, a factory worker photographed on her birthday in El Paso, Texas, on April 22, 1982; Roger Tims, Jim Duncan, Leonard Markley, and Don Belak, coal miners photographed in Reliance, Wyoming, on August 29, 1979; and Boyd Fortin, a 13-year-old rattlesnake skinner, photographed in Sweetwater, Texas, on March 10, 1979.
The images are accompanied by a description of the subjects’ occupations or the activities or circumstances that define them, as well as the location and date the photograph was taken. The precision of this information helps define the documentary nature of the series, without, however, exhausting its meaning. The choice of a neutral background and the absence of environmental references ensure that each person is removed from their immediate context and presented to the viewer through a direct relationship with the camera lens.
*In the American West* was first exhibited in 1985 at the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth and was published that same year by Harry N. Abrams. The series initially sparked a heated debate in the United States. The way Avedon had chosen to depict the West and its inhabitants elicited strong reactions from American critics and the press. Over time, the project has gradually been recognized as one of the seminal works of late-20th-century photography and has taken its place in the history of contemporary portraiture.
The project thus links the essential nature of the photographic form with the complexity of the relationship Avedon established with his subjects. The individual portrait also takes on a broader dimension, becoming a representation of a country undergoing economic and social changes. The series, in fact, emerged from encounters with people and communities situated outside the conventional images of American success and, through a rigorous visual composition, captures a facet of American society during the years of recession and deindustrialization.
The exhibition at Palazzo Esposizioni in Rome follows stops at the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson in Paris in 2025 and the Fundación Mapfre in Madrid in 2026. The exhibition is also part of the Azienda Speciale Palaexpo’s program dedicated to photography and to introducing leading figures in international visual culture to the Italian public. The program has included Don McCullin. In Rome ( 2023–2024), Boris Mikhailov. Ukrainian Diary ( 2023–2024), Mario Giacomelli. The Photographer and the Artist (2025), Roger Ballen. Animalism (2025), Albert Watson. Roma Codex (2025), and Lorenzo Meloni. Revelation (2026).
Rounding out the exhibition project is a reissue of the book *Richard Avedon: In the American West*, first published by Harry N. Abrams in 1985. The new edition includes Italian translations of the essays by Richard Avedon and Laura Wilson—who accompanied the photographer during the project and recounted some of the stories of the people portrayed—as well as a text by curator Clément Chéroux.
HOURS: Tuesday through Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.; closed Mondays. Admission is permitted up to one hour before closing.
TICKETS:
October 9 through November 1, 2026:
Full price €12.00 – reduced price for ages 19–26 and those over 65: €10.00
From November 3, 2026, to January 31, 2027 (exhibitions : Richard Avedon. In the American West, 1979–1984; Fireworks. Ileana Sonnabend and the Contemporary Art Boom; starting November 17, 2026 , Amelia Rosselli, Improvvisi):
Full price: €15.00 – Reduced price for ages 19–26 and those 65 and older: €12.00
First Wednesday of the month: free admission for those under 30 (from 2:00 PM until closing).
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| Richard Avedon: The Complete “In the American West” Series in Rome—110 Portraits |
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