Gagosian will examine Richard Avedon‘s lifelong fascination with Hollywood in a major exhibition opening November 4, 2026, at its Beverly Hills gallery. Curated by the Richard Avedon Foundation, Richard Avedon: Hollywood brings together over 120 photographs from a career that lasted over half a century, combining celebrated portraits with rarely seen images.
Avedon approached Hollywood as a distinctly American construction built through glamour, celebrity, influence and image. His connection to the film industry stretched well beyond portrait assignments. During the summer of 1956, he worked in Paris as a consultant on Funny Face, Stanley Donen’s 1957 musical starring Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire. The film loosely drew from Avedon’s own unlikely experiences as a young photographer. During this period, he briefly considered leaving photography to direct films, though Hollywood continued to fascinate him throughout his career.
The exhibition traces that interest through actors from several generations. Avedon photographed Charlie Chaplin, Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe, later turning his camera toward Nastassja Kinski, Tilda Swinton, Ralph Fiennes and Philip Seymour Hoffman. His portraits often brought viewers unusually close to their subjects, placing personality and physical presence ahead of the polished public image associated with the film industry.
Directors form another significant group within the exhibition. Portraits of Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford, Michelangelo Antonioni and Steven Spielberg document filmmakers who shaped cinema through distinct approaches to directing. Avedon also photographed musicians whose careers extended into film, including Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Barbra Streisand, Tina Turner and Lena Horne.
His interest reached beyond performers and filmmakers. Avedon photographed entertainment executives, financial brokers, agents and critics whose decisions could influence careers behind the scenes. The exhibition also includes portraits of four American presidents, examining the relationship between public image, political power and the mechanisms through which reputations gain cultural force.
Specific films provide another thread through the presentation. Works connected to The Wizard of Oz, Funny Face and In Cold Blood show Avedon’s proximity to productions and figures that influenced American cinema for decades.
Cécile Degos designed the exhibition, which arrives alongside two major Avedon projects. Netflix will debut Avedon on November 11, a biographical documentary directed by Academy Award winner Ron Howard following its premiere at this year’s Festival de Cannes.
Abrams will also publish Richard Avedon: The Harper’s Bazaar Years on October 13. The monograph includes a previously unpublished oral history in which Avedon discusses his two decades at Harper’s Bazaar, along with an essay by Derek C. Blasberg and a foreword by the magazine’s current editor in chief, Samira Nasr.
Richard Avedon: Hollywood opens at Gagosian Beverly Hills on November 4, 2026, bringing five decades of photography together through the figures who created, financed, performed and participated in Hollywood’s image.
