RICHARD AVEDON (1923-2004)

Dovima with Elephants, Evening Dress by Dior, Cirque d'Hiver, Paris, August 1955

Details

RICHARD AVEDON (1923-2004)
Dovima with Elephants, Evening Dress by Dior, Cirque d'Hiver, Paris, August 1955
gelatin silver print, printed 1981
signed, numbered '17/50' in ink, copyright credit reproduction limitation, title and edition stamps (on the verso)
23½ x 19in. (59.5 x 48.1cm.)

Literature

Harper's Bazaar, September 1955; Avedon and Brodkey, Avedon Photographs 1947-1977, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1978, pl. 159 and back cover; Hall-Duncan, The History of Fashion Photography, Alpine Book Co., 1979, p. 137; Harrison and Bailey, Shots of Style: Great Fashion Photographs, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1985, cat. no. 7; Harrison, Appearances: Fashion Photography since 1945, Jonathan Capem, 1991, p. 73; Avedon, Evidence, 1944-1994, Random House, 1994, p. 53

Lot Essay

'Avedon's Dovima, one hand nonchalantly resting on the elephant's trunk, her other arm outstretched in a gesture of haughty disdain, triumphantly accomplishes this exercise in incongruity. The long Dior evening dress is photographed with a sinuous elegance to which the lumbering elephants, with their harsh, leathery skin-texture, are a perfect foil.' (Appearances, p. 68)

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