In Eleganti

FashionDidone Typefaces and In Elegant Fashion Didone Typefaces and Richard Avedon ii In Elegant Fashion Didone Typefaces and Richard Avedon

Designed by Erin Borst iv Copyright © 2015 by Erin Borst Acknowledgments v All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the prior permission of the publisher except for the use of brief The information found in this book has been taken from various online sources. These passages in connection with a book review. sources are compiled from a combination of blogs, news sites and data sites. The images used have also been taken from various sources on the Internet. Printed in the United States of America

Big Apple Publishing, 2015

ISBN 503-0-0489-0067-0

2243 7th Avenue New York, NY 10027 USA In Elegant Fashion Didone Typefaces and Richard Avedon Didone Typefaces contrast between thick and thin lines (horizontal parts of letters are thin in comparison to the verti- Didone is a typeface category recognized by the cal), and an unornamented, “modern” appearance. Association Typographique Internationale (AtypI), MPeriod examples include Bodoni, Didot, and and part of the VOX-ATypI classification system. Walbaum, while modern typefaces along the same It emerged in the late 18th century. The category is lines include Computer Modern, Surveyor and also known as modern or modern face (in contrast Filosofia. It remains very popular in the printing of to old style serif, which dates to the late Greek, as the Didot family were among the first to medieval era). set up a printing press in the newly independent MIt is characterized by straight (hairline) serifs country, and in mathematics, aided by the status of without brackets, vertical orientation of weight Computer Modern as the default typeface of the axes (the vertical parts of letters are thick), strong typesetting programmes TeX and LaTeX. D

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Audrey Hepburn (left) and Twiggy (right), photographed by Richard Avedon. Avedon, photographed with Twiggy.

Early Life Inspired by his parents’ clothing businesses, discipline and what’s beautiful about rigour, as a boy Avedon took a great interest in fash- what’s compelling about craft.” Richard Avedon was born on May 15, 1923 ion, especially enjoying photographing the in New York City. His mother, Anna Avedon, clothes in his father’s store. Young Dick’s inter- At the age of 12, he joined the YMHA came from a family of dress manufacturers, est in magazines started early: “My parents (Young Men’s Hebrew Association) Camera and his father, Jacob Israel Avedon, owned put the New Yorker in my crib. I saw Vogue Club. He would use his family’s Kodak a clothing store called Avedon’s Fifth Avenue. and Vanity Fair around the house before I Box Brownie not only to feed his curiosity His father was a critical and remote discipli- could read.” He took one of his first photo- about the world, but also to retreat from his narian who insisted that physical strength, graphs aged nine when he was taken to a personal life. The photographer’s first muse education, and money prepared one for life. concert given by Rachmaninoff and waited was his younger sister, Louise, a beautiful Jacob Avedon insisted on the value of self-re- by the stage door afterwards with a box cam- subject. Two years younger than he, Louise liance, and on one occasion allowed young era. By coincidence, Rachmaninoff lived in Avedon was a precocious beauty. During her Dick (then about twelve) to drink a bottle of the same apartment building as the Avedons, teen years, however, she struggled through wine, inflicting a terrific hangover but also and Richard Avedon later recalled listening psychiatric treatment. Eventually, becoming a lesson on the dangers of alcohol. Self- to the Russian musician practising hour after increasingly withdrawn from reality, she was reliance, in fact, proved of more immediate hour. “Maybe that’s where I learned about diagnosed with schizophrenia. She died value to Jacob Israel, for his business failed in aged 42 in a mental institution. Avedon was the Depression and he was forced to carry on Kate Moss, haunted by her death, and by her beauty. photographed by Richard in much-reduced circumstances. Avedon. In an interview published in 1985 in the Baskerville’s types, compared with their Old Style (or Garalde) predecessors, are marked by high contrast between thick and thin strokes, so much so that one commentator declared Baskerville was “blinding the nation.” The Moderns or Didones take this contrast to further extremes (just about as far as one can take them). MThe first Modern typeface is attributed to Frenchman Firmin Didot (son of François- Ambroise Didot) and first graced the printed page in 1784. His types were soon followed by the archetypal Didone from Bodoni. The Italian type designer, punchcutter and printer Giambattista Bodoni (1740-1813) drew his influence from the Romains du Roi (with its flat, unbracketed serifs)

(opposite) Didot, used in the Harper’s Bazaar logo.

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magazine Egoiste he said, “Louise’s beauty his interest in fashion photography. “One was the event of our family and the destruc- evening my father and I were walking down tion of her life. She was very, very beautiful. Fifth Avenue looking at the store windows,” She was treated as if there was no one he remembered. “In front of the Plaza Hotel, inside her perfect skin, as if she was simply I saw a bald man with a camera posing a her long throat, her deep brown eyes. All very beautiful woman against a tree. He lifted my first models - Dorian Leigh, Elise Daniels, his head, adjusted her dress a little bit and Carmen, Marella Agnelli, took some photographs. Later, I saw the pic- - were brunettes and had fine noses, long ture in Harper’s Bazaar. I didn’t understand throats, oval faces. They were all memories why he’d taken her against that tree until I got of my sister.” These early influences of fashion to Paris a few years later: the tree in front of and family would shape his life and career, the Plaza had that same peeling bark you see often expressed in his desire to capture tragic all over the Champs-Elysees.” beauty in photos. Avedon attended DeWitt Clinton High School Avedon later described one childhood in New York City, where one of his class- moment in particular as helping to kindle mates and closest friends was the great writer (opposite) Harper’s James Baldwin. In addition to his continued Bazaar cover, photo- graphed by Richard interest in fashion and photography, in high Avedon. and the types of John Baskerville (high contrast), for vertical (rationalist) axis, the Moderns have even whom he showed great admiration. greater contrast. MIn fact, if you grab a Baskerville, take away the MWhat are they good for? There’s something rather brackets that join serifs to stems, thicken up the clinical about the Moderns, especially in the roman vertical strokes, you’ll be left with something that capitals. Their vertical axis, coupled with strong resembles a Didone (though don’t expect it to horizontal stress, furnishes them with the stiffness be pretty). of toy soldiers on parade. They are elegant, and like MThe romans of the Modern types owe very little, all things elegant, look unhurried, calm, and in con- if anything, to the earlier calligraphic forms; they trol. They’re generally not suited to setting extended are too precise, too sharp, too clean. Whereas the text, as the verticality of the letter forms interferes Old Style types are Neoclassical, the Didones are (below) One of Avedon’s with the text’s horizontal rhythm. The letters don’t most well-known works, Romantic. Though both forms share a common Dovima with Elephants. lead our eyes across the page, but rather up and

6 7 down. Unsurprisingly, Bringhurst brings some clar- a visually impaired dog. If you know the beautiful, ity to the subject when he writes, “Romantic letters yet austere architecture of Tadao Ando, then mixing can be extraordinarily beautiful, but they lack the a Didot with, say, a Blackletter is akin to draping flowing and steady rhythm of the Renaissance one of Ando’s monoliths in a giant lace doily. forms. It is that rhythm which invites the reader to enter the text and read. The statuesque forms of Didot Romantic letters invite the reader to stand outside and look at the letters instead.” Certainly one of the more renowned font groups, MThe Moderns need lots of space (white space and this well established font family group was named inter-line space), so give them extra leading and for one of the most famous Parisian printing and generous margins; and if you pair a Modern with type foundry families, the Didot family. They ran a another face, then make sure it’s not a fussy one, or series of highly successful print shops and found- your page will look like a circus poster designed by ries from the mid 1700s for over two hundred years.

Elizabeth Taylor, photographed by Richard Avedon.

A Didone font used in the Giorgio Armani logo. 8 9

school Avedon also developed an affinity for becoming a photographer.” He spent most acclaimed art director of Harper’s Bazaar. poetry. He and Baldwin served as co-editors of his service at Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn Avedon and Brodovitch formed a close bond, of the school’s prestigious literary magazine, taking thousands upon thousands of photo- and within one year Avedon was hired as a The Magpie, and during his senior year, in graphs of servicemen for their ID cards. It staff photographer for the magazine. Initially 1941, Avedon was named “Poet Laureate of was a dully repetitive task, but the format of a denied the use of a studio by the magazine, New York City High Schools.” full-face portrait in front of a bare background he photographed models and fashions on left its mark on him. Avedon served in the the streets, in nightclubs, at the circus, on the After high school, Avedon enrolled at Merchant Marine for two years, from 1942 beach and at other uncommon locations, Columbia University to study philosophy to 1944. employing the endless resourcefulness and and poetry. However, he dropped out after inventiveness that became a hallmark of his only one year to serve in the United States Photography Career art. After several years photographing daily Merchant Marine during World War II. As life in New York City, Avedon was assigned a Photographer’s Mate Second Class, his Upon leaving the Merchant Marine in to cover the spring and fall fashion collections main duty was taking identification portraits 1944, Avedon attended the New School for in Paris. While legendary editor Carmel of sailors with the Rolleiflex camera his father Social Research in New York City to study Snow covered the runway shows, Avedon’s had given him as a gift. As he described photography under Alexey Brodovitch, the task was to stage photographs of models it, “My job was to do identity photographs. wearing the new fashions out in the city I must have taken pictures of one hundred itself. Throughout the late 1940s and early thousand faces before it occurred to me I was 1950s he created elegant black-and-white (opposite) Marilyn One of the first fonts to be classified as Didone or Monroe, photographed by Richard Avedon. modern, the font has appeared in everything from a publication of Voltaire to the logo of a highly suc- cessful American broadcasting company. There have been several revivals of the Linotype Didot Font Family, particularly with the development of hot metal type and Linotype’s more recent redesign to adapt the font for digital use. MThe Didot Font Family began in Paris when Firmin Didot began work on a collection of related type fonts. At the time the Didot family owned the most influential and successful print shop and font foundry in France. In fact, they were the King’s printers with seven members of the family working in some capacity in the varied branches of the book

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Dolores Guiness, photographed by Richard Avedon.

photographs showcasing the latest fashions Kennedy. On one occasion, in a 1951 shoot in real-life settings such as Paris’s picturesque with the model Dovima, even the pyramids of cafes, cabarets and streetcars. Brodovitch Egypt became props in an Avedon saw the potential of Avedon’s private work, fashion feature. but rejected his first shoots for Harper’s on the grounds that they were too derivative and In 1946, Avedon had set up his own studio predictable. Avedon took the hint and drove and began providing images for magazines off to a beach with his own models and including Vogue and Life. Under Brodovitch’s photographed them playing leapfrog and tutelage, he quickly became the lead pho- walking about the sand on stilts. Other fash- tographer for Harper’s Bazaar. From 1950 ion editors were scandalised by the idea of he also contributed photographs to Life, models appearing in Harper’s barefoot - and Look, and Graphis, and in 1952 became without gloves - but Brodovitch was delighted. Staff Editor and photographer for Theatre From then on Avedon was given an unpar- Arts Magazine. Avedon did not conform alleled degree of creative freedom. While to the standard technique of taking studio his studio shoots eschewed anything but the fashion photographs, where models stood bare white background, his fashion pho- tography used diverse locations, from zoos and circuses to the launching pads at Cape trade. Firmin Didot completed the development and began to cut the letters and cast them between 1784 and 1811. His brother Pierre used the type for his printing business, including the now famous edition of Voltaire’s La Henriade, which has been long considered his masterpiece. The typeface was known for its increasing stroke contrast and more condensed armature, much like John Baskerville’s fonts of the time. MThe font is considered a neoclassical font with a similar style because of its increased stress on high contrast, similar to a contemporary family of fonts of the time by the Italian Giambattista Bodoni, cre- ator of the well-known Bodoni font family.

Audrey Hepburn, photographed by Richard Twiggy, photographed Avedon. by Richard Avedon.

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Audrey Hepburn (left) and Cher (right), photographed by Richard Avedon.

emotionless and seemingly indifferent to the her back serenely arched as she holds on to 1973 until Anna Wintour became editor- Avedon said that “Brooke is a lightning rod. camera. Instead, Avedon showed models the trunk of one elephant while reaching out in-chief in late 1988. Notable among his She focuses the inarticulate rage people feel full of emotion, smiling, laughing, and, many fondly toward the other. The image remains fashion advertisement photograph series are about the decline in contemporary morality times, in action in outdoor settings, which one of the most strikingly original and iconic the recurring assignments for Gianni Versace, and destruction of innocence in the world.” was revolutionary at the time. However, fashion photographs of all time. “He asked starting from the spring/summer campaign On working with Avedon, Shields told towards the end of the 1950s he became me to do extraordinary things,” Dovima said 1980. He also photographed the Calvin Interview magazine in May 1992, “When dissatisfied with daylight photography and of Avedon. “But I always knew I was going Klein Jeans campaign featuring a fifteen-year- Dick walks into the room, a lot of people open air locations and so turned to studio to be part of a great picture.” old Brooke Shields, as well as directing her are intimidated. But when he works, he’s so photography, using strobe lighting. in the television commercials. Avedon first acutely creative, so sensitive. And he doesn’t Avedon served as a staff photographer for worked with Shields in 1974 for a Colgate like it if anyone else is around or speaking. Already established as one of the most tal- Harper’s Bazaar for 20 years, from 1945 toothpaste ad. He shot her for Versace, There is a mutual vulnerability, and a moment ented young fashion photographers in the to 1965. Avedon left Harper’s Bazaar in twelve American Vogue covers, and Revlon’s of fusion when he clicks the shutter. You either business, in 1955 Avedon made fashion and 1965 after facing a storm of criticism over Most Unforgettable Women campaign. In get it or you don’t”. photography history when he staged a photo his collaboration with models of color, and the February 9, 1981 issue of Newsweek, shoot at a circus. The iconic photograph of from 1966 to 1990 he worked as a pho- Avedon also produced a playfully inventive that shoot, “Dovima with Elephants,” features tographer for Vogue, its chief rival among series of advertisements for fashion label the most famous model of the time in a black American fashion magazines. He proceeded Christian Dior, based on the idea of film Dior evening gown with a long white silk to become the lead photographer of Vogue sash. She is posed between two elephants, and photographed most of the covers from 14 15

stills. Featuring a stock cast of models and narrative purposes. As he wryly said, “My them with a large-format 8x10 view camera. (above) , actors, the color photographs purported to photographs don’t go below the surface. I His subjects include Buster Keaton, Marian photographed by Richard Avedon. show scenes from the life of a fictional “Dior have great faith in surfaces. A good one is Anderson, Marilyn Monroe, Ezra Pound, family,” whose members managed to wear full of clues.” Isak Dinesen, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Andy elegant fashions even when wrestling on Warhol, and the Chicago Seven. His por- a couch. In addition to his fashion photography, he traits are easily distinguished by their minimal- was also well known for his portraiture. His ist style, where the person is looking squarely Avedon continued to push the boundaries of black-and-white portraits were remarkable in the camera, posed in front of a sheer white fashion photography with surreal, provoca- for capturing the essential humanity and background. By eliminating the use of soft tive, and often controversial pictures in which vulnerability lurking in larger-than-life figures. lights and props, Avedon was able to focus nudity, violence, and death featured promi- Avedon was always interested in how por- on the inner worlds of his subjects evoking nently. Avedon was fascinated by photogra- traiture captures the personality and soul of its emotions and reactions. He would at times phy’s capacity for suggesting the personality subject. As his reputation as a photographer evoke reactions from his portrait subjects by and evoking the life of his subjects. He reg- became widely known, he brought in many guiding them into uncomfortable areas of Charles Deberney, istered poses, attitudes, hairstyles, clothing, famous faces to his studio and photographed discussion or asking them psychologically head of the French type and accessories as vital, revelatory elements probing questions. Through these means he foundry, Deberney + of an image. He had complete confidence in would produce images revealing aspects of Peignot. the two-dimensional nature of photography, his subject’s character and personality that the rules of which he bent to his stylistic and were not typically captured by others. In more modern times, in 1966 the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) commissioned the Foundry Daylight version of the font for their iconic “eye” logo. Although not as common a sight today as it was, the logo is still very much a part of the modern media scene. MThe development of hot type and then digital type saw changes to the basic font style, due in part to a common problem with not only the Didot font family, but also with the Bodoni fonts. The conver- sion to digital resulted in a problem called “dazzle,” where the fine, thin lines in the smaller point sizes would disappear. In 1991 Adrian Frutiger was one of the premier designers of the century and was

Didot, used on the 16 covers of Harper’s 17 Bazaar magazine.

During this period, Avedon also created two tragedy. It faded, for one thing, or it came at photographer at The New Yorker, suggested Mr. Gopnik, who first met Avedon in 1985 The Kennedys (left) and famous sets of portraits of The Beatles. The a terrible loss of self. Growing up, Avedon Avedon’s long view of fashion, but also a when the photographer was completing his Elizabeth Taylor (right), photographed by Richard first, taken in mid to late 1967, became heard his mother say to his sister Louise, who distinct side of his personality. “There was series of portraits called “In the American Avedon. one of the first major rock poster series, and would eventually die at 42 in a mental insti- a real sadness about him,” said Norma West,” believes the attacks were motivated consisted of five striking psychedelic portraits tution, “You’re so beautiful you don’t have to Stevens, who joined his studio in 1976 and by jealousy and envy. People resented the of the group — four heavily solarized indi- open your mouth.” This notion that beauty can today runs the Richard Avedon Foundation. famous, good-looking man who took such vidual color portraits and a black-and-white be intoxicating but, equally, impoverishing to “He loved working, and he would be up for delight in his work and, at the same time, group portrait taken with a Rolleiflex camera the soul, Ms. Squiers said, tinged Avedon’s that. But it was like a performance. After that kept exploring new areas. “I don’t think it’s and a normal Planar lens. The next year he early pictures with a feeling of compassion. there would be a drop.” any more complicated than that,” Mr. photographed the much more restrained And it may never have completely left him. Gopnik said. portraits that were included with The Beatles Surprisingly, Avedon’s pictures in the ’60s of in 1968. Among the many other rock bands A photograph he made in 1998 of a models like Twiggy and Penelope Tree were Avedon’s photography has always amounted photographed by Avedon, in 1973 he shot robotic-looking model wearing a mouth seen by some critics as anti-fashion. Avedon, to a plea for beauty; to see it mysterious, to Electric Light Orchestra with all the members plug seemed to circle back to his sister. the ’50s golden boy, the inspiration for see it raw, but ultimately, to see it whole. To exposing their bellybuttons for recording “On Such pictures, made when he was a staff ’s suave character in the movie view his portraits in the ’50s and ’60s is to the Third Day.” “,” was now savaging beauty and see the flip side of the decades’ stylish obses- elegance. Not only was he fleeing from the sions. And whether the faces were beautiful What made Avedon different? He was confines of fashion magazines, he was also keenly aware that beauty had an element of seeking revenge. working at Linotype. He was inspired by the study Marilyn Monroe, photographed by Richard of the early Didot fonts in the Voltaire publication. Avedon. He came up with a solution for Dazzle by adapting the fonts with the creation of a heavier weighted stroke in the smaller sizes. A similar solution was created by Jonathan Hoefler in his adaptation that he named HTF Didot when he was at H&FJ. The Linotype Didot and HTF Didot are still widely used to this day, particularly in books and magazines where an elegant old-fashion look is desired.

18 Jean Shrimpton, 19 photographed by Richard Avedon.

or ravaged, famous or not, the portraits relent- lessly informed the fashion images, and vice versa. Certainly by the ’90s, with notions like Prada’s ugly beauty, the categories of beauty had dissolved. For Avedon, though, the lines had faded long before, if they were ever that clear. Perhaps the famous “Avedon blur” expressed the futility, even the tragedy, of permanent beliefs. “I certainly think — I know — that the apparent line between his fashion photography and his portraits was false, that he saw it as continuous work,” Mr. Gopnik said, adding that Avedon was amused at how people could look at the empty face of a model and find it more beautiful than the worn face of a coal miner. “It was not an affectation on his part,” he said. Marilyn Monroe, photographed by Richard Avedon.

Richard Avedon, photographed with 20 Audrey Hepburn. 21 An overlap of Didone type.

Though never a crude or gratuitous icono- to an age when deference was still expected images could not be cropped, manipulated clast, he did not make it his business to flatter from portrait artists. or altered in the darkroom. Fashion pho- the famous: a 1957 portrait of the Duke and tography, in particular, was dominated by Duchess of Windsor which, in the words of The photographs which shocked then, now an aesthetic of chill, almost lifeless formality China Machado (a former model and later seem strikingly humane and compassionate, - the models little more than humanly perfect editor of Harper’s Bazaar), “made her look more concerned with the loneliness and mannequins. Avedon broke all the rules. With like a toad”, outraged royalists. And when his pathos of celebrity than with its monstrosity or restless energy he would use distortion and second book “Nothing Personal” appeared pretension. In any event, such was the power blurring of images and complex retouching in 1964, he was berated by critics for rep- of Avedon’s camera to confer a certain kind techniques to get the effects he wanted; he resenting celebrities as freaks and monsters. of immortality that few, if any, ever refused an also took models out of studios and on to Time’s reviewer wrote that Avedon’s lens was invitation to be photographed by him. location, and replaced bloodless poise with “a subtler, crueller instrument of distortion than action and movement. any caricaturist’s pen”. The orthodoxy in photography laid down by Henri Cartier-Bresson, whom the young One of Avedon’s legacies to the fashion Avedon’s response was that he was sim- Avedon greatly admired, had been that industry was that he “created” models: he ply telling the truth about a person: if, for enabled several generations of them - from Didot, used on the cover instance, he made Dorothy Parker look like an Three generations Dovima in the 1950s, and Jean Shrimpton of “Observations” by alcoholic, it was because she was an alco- of the King family, and Veruschka in the 1960s, to Stephanie Richard Avedon and photographed by Richard Truman Capote. holic. In retrospect, the controversy belonged Avedon. Seymour in the 1990s - to express personality Bodoni

Bodoni will forever be associated with the hordes of digital interpretations from just about every type foundry on earth. The FontBook devotes some 14 pages to flavors of Bodoni; some are faithful digi- tal renderings, others well-crafted interpretations; while others still are nothing but parodies, suitable only for poster headlines or the typographic scrap- heap. However, Bodoni was a prolific type designer, completing hundreds of typefaces. The Museo Bodoniano in Parma houses more than 25,000 of his punches! Bodoni’s Manuale Tipografico (1818) contains 142 roman typefaces and their correspond- ing italics, and that’s just volume one. The second volume includes numerous ornaments, Arabic,

Stephanie Seymour, photographed by Richard Avedon. G 22 23

and presence in his images. In reality, he In addition to his continuing fashion work, by believed passionately that portraits were the 1960s Avedon had turned his energies pointless unless they had a story to tell, at toward making studio portraits of civil rights least a truth to communicate. “Faces,” he workers, politicians and cultural dissidents Twiggy, photographed once said, “are the ledgers of our experi- of various stripes in an America fissured by by Richard Avedon. ence”. While Avedon’s portraits often clashed discord and violence. He began to branch with a naive American optimism and preoccu- out and photographed patients of mental pation with celebrity, his genius was to make hospitals, the Civil Rights Movement in 1963, his subjects - whether Henry Kissinger or a protesters of the Vietnam War, and later hobo from New Mexico - perform themselves, the fall of the Berlin Wall. He did portraits to show something essential about them- of civil rights leaders such as Dr. Martin selves. For Avedon, who always worked not Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Julian Bond, behind, but to one side of, the camera, the as well as segregationists such as Alabama relationship between photographer and pho- Governor George Wallace, and ordinary tographed was of exchange and dialogue. people involved in demonstrations. In 1969, Bodoni, used in a book “If each photograph steals a bit of the soul,” he shot a series of Vietnam War portraits cover design. he asked, “isn’t it possible that I give up that included the Chicago Seven, American pieces of mine every time I take a picture?” soldiers and Vietnamese napalm victims. In 1971 Avedon went to Vietnam for a second Greek, Russian, and Tibetan types, to name but When first released, Bodoni, and other Didone a few. fonts, were called classical designs. However, upon MBodoni is a series of serif typefaces first designed closer inspection it became evident that these fonts by Giambattista Bodoni (1740–1813) in 1798. The were not updated versions of classical type styles, typeface is classified as Didone modern. Bodoni but were in fact new designs. This meant that they followed the ideas of John Baskerville, as found in were renamed modern fonts, and then from the the printing type Baskerville: increased stroke con- mid-20th century they were known as Didone fonts. trast and a more vertical, slightly condensed, upper Though these later designs are rightfully called case; but took them to a more extreme conclusion. “modern,” the earlier designs are “transitional.” Bodoni had a long career and his designs evolved MSome digital versions of Bodoni are said to be and varied, ending with a typeface of narrower hard to read due to “dazzle” caused by the alternat- underlying structure with flat, unbracketed serifs, ing thick and thin strokes, particularly as the thin extreme contrast between thick and thin strokes, strokes are very thin at small point sizes. This only and an overall geometric construction. Massimo occurs when display versions are used at text sizes, Vignelli stated that “Bodoni is one of the most ele- gant typefaces ever designed.”

Didot, used on the cover of a Harper’s Bazaar issue.

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Didot, modified for the use in the company, CBS.

time, three years before the end of the war. the Amon Carter Museum, to complete the He was not a natural war photographer, “Western Project.” Wilder envisioned the but using his signature technique of staging project to portray Avedon’s take on the people in front of a plain background, he American West. It became a turning point in produced a harrowing series of portraits Avedon’s career when he focused on every- of napalm burns victims. In 1972 Avedon day working class subjects such as miners took part in an anti-war demonstration at the soiled in their work clothes, housewives, Capitol Building, Washington DC. He was farmers, and drifters on larger-than-life prints arrested and jailed for civil disobedience. instead of more traditional options of famous public figures or the openness and grandeur Serious heart inflammations hindered of the West. The project itself lasted five Avedon’s health in 1974. The troubling years, concluding with an exhibition and a time inspired Avedon to create a compelling catalogue. It allowed Avedon and his crew to collection from a new perspective. In 1979, photograph 762 people and expose approx- Avedon was commissioned by Mitchell imately 17,000 sheets of 8 x 10 Tri-X Pan Marlon Brando (left) and A. Wilder (1913–1979), the director of film. The collection identified a story within his Frank Sinatra (right), subjects of their innermost self, a connection photographed by Richard Avedon. Avedon admits would not have happened if his new sense of mortality through severe and it is also true of much display type that is used (opposite) Dovima in Balenciaga, photo- at text sizes. graphed by Richard MBodoni admired the work of John Baskerville Avedon. and studied in detail the designs of French type founders Pierre Simon Fournier and Firmin Didot. Although he drew inspiration from the work of these designers, above all from Didot, no doubt Bodoni found his own style for his typefaces, which deservedly gained worldwide acceptance among printers. MThere have been many revivals of the Bodoni typeface; ATF Bodoni and Bauer Bodoni are two of the more successful.

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Brigitte Bardot, photo- graphed by Richard Avedon.

heart conditions and aging hadn’t occurred. documentary depicts an aging Avedon pho- Avedon visited and traveled through state tographer identifying “In the American West” fair rodeos, carnivals, coal mines, oil fields, as his best body of work. The project was slaughter houses, and prisons to find the right embedded with Avedon’s goal to discover subjects to reveal. In 1994, Avedon revisited new dimensions within himself, from a Jewish his subjects, who would later on open up photographer from out East who celebrated about the “In the American West” aftermath the lives of famous public figures, to an aging and its direct effects. Billy Mudd, who was a man at one of the last chapters of his life, trucker, went long periods of time on his own to discovering the inner-worlds and untold away from his family. He was a depressed, stories of his Western rural subjects. During disconnected and lonely man before Avedon the production period, Avedon encountered offered him the chance to be photographed. problems with size availability for quality When he saw his portrait for the first time, printing paper. While he experimented with Mudd saw that Avedon was able to reveal platinum printing, he eventually settled on Mudd’s true-self and recognized the need for Portriga Rapid, a double-weight, fiber-based change in his life. The portrait transformed Billy, and led him to quit his job and return to his family. Helen Whitney’s 1996 American Master’s “Avedon: Darkness and Light” Bodoni has been used for a wide variety of material, used for Brandeis University’s wordmark. Tom ranging from 18th century Italian books to 1960s Clancy used Bodoni font for the artwork of all his periodicals. In the 21st century, the late manner affiliated works until his novel Dead or Alive. versions continue to be used in advertising, while the early manner versions are occasionally used for Didone Typefaces in Fashion fine book printing. Poster Bodoni is used in Mamma Mia! posters. Bodoni is one of the two typesets Open just about any fashion magazine, and you’ll that is used by Hilton Hotels for restaurant or bar spot a Didone. Didot and Bodoni dominated menu content. Sony’s Columbia Records (owned printing until the late nineteenth century, when by CBS from 1938 to 1989) also utilizes Bodini for the Arts and Crafts movement returned to the their wordmark. Nirvana’s logo is written with solidity of humanist letterforms and the texture Bodoni (specifically Bodoni Poster-Compressed). of Renaissance printing (William Morris called Bauer Bodoni Black is used for Carnegie Mellon Bodoni’s letterforms ‘shatteringly hideous’). University’s wordmark. Bauer Bodoni Roman is After fading from view, Bodoni and Didot made

Cher, photographed by Richard Avedon.

Didot, used in the CBS logo.

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gelatin silver paper manufactured by Agfa- to capture the working class members who of Marilyn Monroe to a resonant rendering Gevaert. Each print required meticulous work, represent hardship and suffering. They argue of Christopher Reeve in his wheelchair and with an average of thirty to forty manipula- that Avedon’s intentions are to influence and nude photographs of Charlize Theron in tions. Two exhibition sets of “In the American evoke condescending emotions from the audi- 2004, were topics of wide discussion. Some West” were printed as artist proofs, one set ence, such as pity while studying the portraits. of his less controversial New Yorker portraits to remain at the Carter after the exhibition include those of Saul Bellow, Hillary Rodham there, and the other, property of the artist, to Avedon became the first staff photographer Clinton, Toni Morrison, Derek Walcott, and travel to the subsequent six venues. Overall, for The New Yorker in 1992, where his Stephen Sondheim. “I’ve photographed just the printing took nine months: about 68, 000 portraiture redefined the aesthetic of the about everyone in the world,” he said at the square feet of paper were consumed in magazine and where his post-apocalyptic, time. “But what I hope to do is photograph the process. wild fashion fable “In Memory of the Late people of accomplishment, not celebrity, Mr. and Mrs. Comfort,” featuring model and help define the difference once again.” While “In the American West” is one of Nadja Auermann and a skeleton, was His last project for The New Yorker, which Avedon’s most notable works, it has often published in 1995. Other pictures for the remained unfinished, was a portfolio enti- been criticized for falsifying the West through magazine, ranging from the first publication tled “Democracy” that included portraits of voyeuristic themes and for exploiting his in 1994 of previously unpublished photos political leaders such as Karl Rove and John subjects. Critics question why a photographer Kerry, as well as ordinary citizens engaged in from the East who traditionally focuses on political and social activism. models or public figures would go out West a comeback in the early twentieth century, partly Brodovitch, who served as art director at Harper’s because their geometric clarity seemed Bazaar from 1934 to 1958. Both are credited with modern again. having imported a Modern approach to layout and MIn 1912, Deberny + Peignot bought the original photography, as well as a “Modernist” sensibility punches of Didot, making the font newly accessible about type. to designers. In a classic portrait, Charles Peignot, MBrodovitch had used Didot while working in the head of the French foundry, was photographed Paris on Cahiers d’Art in the 1920s. In his reign as with a beautiful poster-scaled Didot “a” hovering in art director of Harper’s Bazaar, Didot was the black the background. It is from this fashionable context blade that cut the white space of his layouts. The of European Modernism in the 1920s and ‘30s that font became the signature of Harper’s Bazaar, as America borrowed two of its most influential art well as Brodovitch’s own signature: he used the font directors, Dr. Mehemed Fehmy Agha, who would art direct Vogue from 1929 to 1942, and Alexey

Yves Saint Laurent contemplating the use of Didot in his logo.

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Marilyn Monroe (left) and Twiggy (right), photographed by Richard Avedon. Publications, Exhibitions, and Recognition Avedon’s first exhibition opened at the The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New Smithsonian Institution in 1962, and his York, presented two solo exhibitions during Avedon was prolific during his time at work is still displayed there as part of the his lifetime, in 1978 and 2002. In 1980 Harper’s, and the collaboration with permanent collection. Even the design of the another retrospective was organized by the Brodovitch bore fruit when he agreed to Smithsonian show was innovatory: the por- University Art Museum in Berkeley. Major design Avedon’s first book, “Observations” traits were mounted in a haphazard collage retrospectives were mounted at the Whitney (1959), a masterpiece of typography style, in prints of widely varying sizes. Museum of American Art, New York (1994), and layout which included text by Truman and at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Capote. He continued to publish books of his This was followed in 1970 by a major retro- Art, Humblebaek, Denmark (2007; traveled works throughout his life, including “Nothing spective at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, to Milan, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam and San Personal” in 1964 (with an essay by old thought to be the largest show ever devoted Francisco, through 2009). Showing Avedon’s friend James Baldwin), “Portraits 1947– to the work of a single photographer. One of work from his earliest, sun-splashed pictures 1977” (1978, with an essay by Harold its highlights was a series of photographs of in 1944 to portraits in 2000 that convey his Rosenberg), “An Autobiography” (1993), Tom Hayden, Abbie Hoffman and the other fashion fatigue, the International Center of “Evidence 1944–1994” (1994, with essays defendants in the “Chicago Seven” conspir- Photography in 2009 mounted the largest by Jane Livingston and Adam Gopnik), and acy trial of the previous year. The exhibit survey of the photographer’s fashion work. “The Sixties” (1999, with interviews by provoked a spontaneous anti-war demonstra- Doon Arbus). tion on the opening night of the show. for the identity of his influential Design Laboratory at the New School. In the 1950s Bodoni (and its clownishly bloated progeny Bodoni Poster) was used in many other design contexts. The cover of a 1950 Museum of Modern Art book, designed by Jack Dunbar, prominently displays its title “What Is Modern Design?” in Bodoni, as if the question it asks is answered by the typeface, rendered in stark white letters on a black background. MThe canonisation or the “fashionisation” of the Didone style can be observed in the evolution of Vogue magazine. In Vogue’s early pre-photographic covers, illustrators created lettering that worked with the style and spirit of their illustrations. This ethic was carried over as Vogue made the transition

A comparison of differ- ent Didone typefaces. 32 33

Also in 2009, the Corcoran Gallery of Art murals — they range in size from 8 x 10 showed “Richard Avedon: Portraits of Power,” inches to 22 x 40 inches — that he created bringing together the photographer’s political between 1969 and 1971. portraits for the first time. In 1974 Avedon’s photographs of his termi- Avedon’s work is included in the collec- nally ill father were featured at the Museum of tions of the Museum of Modern Art and Modern Art. The series, which has been pub- Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; lished widely since, forms a profoundly mov- A portrait of Richard Smithsonian’s National Museum of American ing tribute. The next year a selection of his Avedon. History, Washington, D.C.; Amon Carter portraits was displayed at the Marlborough Museum, Ft. Worth, Texas; and Centre Gallery. In 1977, a retrospective collec- Georges Pompidou, Paris, among many tion of his photographs, “Richard Avedon: other museums and institutions worldwide. Photographs 1947-1977,” was exhibited Supported by Leonard A. Lauder and Larry at the Metropolitan Museum of Art before Gagosian, the Avedon Foundation gave beginning an international tour of many of 74 Avedon images to the Israel Museum in the world’s most famous museums. As one Jean Shrimpton, pho- 2013. Included in the gift is a 20-by-8-foot tographed by Richard Avedon. mural of Allen Ginsberg’s family, along with a complete set of the artist’s four smaller-format into the photographic era: photographers and designers created ambitiously varied and inventive approaches that integrated letterforms as part of a total approach to design. But even in those covers that did not integrate the lettering as part of the overall concept, type choices were extremely varied. MAs late as 1955, Vogue covers vacillated between serif and sans serif typefaces, as well as script faces and illustrative, photographic letters. It was after 1955 that the magazine appears to have legislated a consistent use of the all-capitals banner headline set in Didone lettering. Apart from minor details, it has remained absolutely fixed since then, the trade- dress of a powerful international franchise. MFlash ahead to 1992 and the Didone aesthetic is powerfully resuscitated in Fabien Baron’s re-design

Didot, used in the Calvin Klein logo.

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Dovima (left) and Twiggy (right), photographed by Richard Avedon.

of the first self-consciously artistic commercial Achievement Award from the Council of contribution to the art of photography (above) A comparison of photographers, Avedon played a large role Fashion Designers of America in 1989, in 2003. Didot and Bodoni. in defining the artistic purpose and possibili- the International Center of Photography ties of the genre. “The moment an emotion or Master of Photography Award in 1993, Personal Life fact is transformed into a photograph it is no the Prix Nadar in 1994 for his photobook longer a fact but an opinion,” he once said. “Evidence,” the Royal Photographic Society Avedon was a small, wiry man, with a “There is no such thing as inaccuracy in a 150th Anniversary Medal, as well as the distinctive, centre-parted shock of hair which photograph. All photographs are accurate. National Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement gradually turned from black to white as he None of them is the truth.” in 2003. He received honorary graduate grew older. He was somewhat near-sighted degrees from the Royal College of Art and wore horn-rimmed glasses all his life, He received numerous honours and prizes in (1989), Kenyon College (1993) and Parsons although characteristically these would be his long career: as far back as 1958 he was School of Design (1994), and was elected a pushed up to rest on his forehead whenever cited as one of the world’s 10 best photog- Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and he was examining prints. He spoke in a raphers by Popular Photography. In 1980 Sciences in 2001. He was awarded The gravelly voice with an East Coast accent. He he received the National Magazine award Royal Photographic Society’s Special 150th had an impish energy and boundless curios- for Visual Excellence, and in 1985 he was Anniversary Medal and Honorary Fellowship ity. Over the years he employed and trained named the American Society of Magazine in recognition of a sustained, significant many young and aspiring photographers at Jean Shrimpton, pho- Photographers’ Photographer of the Year. his office-cum-studio-cum-home on the Upper tographed by Richard Other awards included a Lifetime East Side of Manhattan, and as he got older Avedon for Harper’s Bazaar. of Harper’s Bazaar. Baron commissioned Jonathan A casual glance through the lexicon of fashion Hoefler to create a new digital Didot, a kind of brands confirms that this Didone aesthetic is short- super-Didot, drawn in extremely large sizes that hand for luxury, refinement, and a certain prissy allowed the type to be set in enormous display sizes or posh attitude. To paraphrase Jack Parr’s line, while still retaining its razor-thin lines. When Baron “Whenever I hear the word culture, I take out my was interviewed in 1995 for Eye, he seemed irritated chequebook,” consumers are now trained to take when asked if his choice of Didot was self-con- out their chequebooks whenever they see Didot. So sciously referring to the Brodovitch era. “No, we why are Bodoni and Didot used so much in relation used Didot because it’s very feminine, not because to fashion, apart from their stylishness and pedi- of the magazine’s history. When we started at Bazaar gree? Can it be that within the very forms of these things were very elegant and the direction of the typefaces they evoke the precision of tailoring, the magazine was about elegance.” He applied the same spirit to his advertising and brand work with Valentino and Calvin Klein, and, more recently, his art direction for a book on Balenciaga.

Twiggy, photographed by Richard Avedon.

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Didot, used in the Valentino logo.

he seemed only to thrive the more in the company of younger people. Avedon was a demanding tutor, impatient with anything less than perfection from those around him, but he was also an immensely courteous, charming, and kind man. He was without pretension and would behave in the same direct, engaging manner toward all his sitters. But his instincts were always those of a New York Jewish liberal, and if he took against someone he could be waspish.

Blessed with longevity and enormous zest (his mother Anna was still sculpting in her nine- ties), Avedon continued working all his life. “I can see myself as a very old man in a ter- rific wheelchair,” he once told an interviewer. Audrey Hepburn, Twiggy, photographed “Only, I won’t be photographing the tree photographed by Richard by Richard Avedon. Avedon. flatness of fabric, the dynamics of gathering, drap- ing and folding? In “Dreaming by the Book,” Elaine Scarry discusses how writers create and manipulate imagery, showing how mental images are subject to bending, folding and stretching. Typefaces perform similar manipulations, conjuring visual associations, rather than purely mental ones. The attenuated forms of Didone letters are not unlike the flattened geometries of dress patterns: accelerated curves and tapered rectangles meeting at precise junctures. One can imagine the fine lines of the Didone ser- ifs as the seams and stitches that connect into an ensemble of parts.

Marilyn Monroe, photographed by Richard 38 Avedon. 39

outside my window, the way Steichen did. I’ll New Yorker. He was 81 years old. At the be photographing other old people.” time of his death, he was also working on a new project titled Democracy to focus on the In 1944, Avedon married 19-year-old run-up to the 2004 U.S. presidential election. bank teller Dorcas Marie Nowell who later became the model and actress Doe Avedon. Legacy They remained married for six years, did not have children and divorced in 1949. During his lifetime, Avedon structured the In 1951, he married Evelyn Franklin, whom Richard Avedon Foundation, a private oper- he eventually divorced and who passed ating foundation. It began its work shortly away on March 13, 2004. Their marriage after his death in 2004. Based in New York, produced one son, John Avedon, who has the foundation is the repository for Avedon’s written extensively about Tibet. photographs, negatives, publications, papers, and archival materials. Pierre Didot, a member On October 1, 2004, Avedon died in a of the famous Didot San Antonio, Texas hospital of complications One of the greatest photographers of the Audrey Hepburn, family. from a cerebral hemorrhage. He was in 20th century, Richard Avedon expanded the photographed by Richard Avedon. San Antonio shooting an assignment for The genre of photography with his surreal and provocative fashion photography, as well While we can speak of this “imaginary” and associa- tive dimension to Didone fonts, we can also point to one of its most salient, pragmatic aspects: it has an almost see-through quality. Because of its radical thick-thin structure, the mass of the letterforms are greatly diminished.” Words typeset in Didone fonts act as a typographic veil over photography, making them particularly useful for magazine covers. Like Tom Wolfe’s “social x-ray,” Didone fonts create an x-ray of the word. Their anorexic, skeletal forms create an ideal overlay for photography. The con- nection between Didot, Bodoni and the topic of fashion is so embedded that not only do Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar continue to dress themselves in its sparkling linearity, but so do countless other maga- zines and brands.

Twiggy, photographed Didot, used on a build- by Richard Avedon. ing for CBS. 40 41

Didot, used in the as portraits that bared the souls of some of eyes, her eyebrows, and her mouth – My concern is… the human predicament; Porter magazine logo. the most important and opaque figures in the are visible. Funny Face gently satirises the only what I consider the human predicament world. Avedon was such a predominant cul- fashion world, thanks in part to a splendid may simply be my own.” tural force that he inspired the classic 1957 performance by Kay Thompson (“Think film Funny Face, starring Audrey Hepburn pink!”), loosely modelled on Harper’s In both appearance and personality, Avedon as a naive, but feisty, bluestocking who is Bazaar’s fashion editor, Diana Vreeland, but cut the ideal figure of a fashion photogra- “discovered” working in a Manhattan book- it is also a measure of the stature Avedon had pher, and after his death, at age 81, he shop by the photographer Dick Avery, played achieved by the mid-1950s. remains that. His photographic style has been by Fred Astaire. The character of Avery, widely imitated. Generations of models have of course, was based on Avedon, though While much has been and continues to be sprung across mid-tone seamless backdrops, Astaire was twice the real photographer’s written about Avedon, he always believed or sat pensively in cafes, or pretended to age. Avedon acted as a visual consultant to that the story of his life was best told through be in love or quite alone — all because of the film. “I had to teach Fred Astaire to be his photographs. Avedon said, “Sometimes Avedon. And yet if his images retain their me,” he recalled, “after wanting to be him I think all my pictures are just pictures of me. special power, if the experiences and emo- all my life.” Avedon supplied some of the still tions they present seem lived and not merely photographs used in the production, including imitated, it may be because he is the more Audrey Hepburn, Didot, used in a CBS its most famous single image: an intentionally complete photographer. photographed by Richard advertisement. Avedon. overexposed close-up of Audrey Hepburn’s face in which only her famous features – her 42 Bibliography Colophon 43

Didone Typefaces: This book was designed by Erin Borst at Northeastern University. It utilizes two type- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didone_(typography) faces: Didot, designed by Firmin Didot, and Futura Light, designed by Paul Renner. http://ilovetypography.com/2008/05/30/a-brief-history-of-type-part-4/ http://www.fonts.com/font/linotype/linotype-didot#product_top http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodoni http://www.eyemagazine.com/feature/article/through-thick-and-think-fashion-and- type

Richard Avedon: http://www.biography.com/people/richard-avedon-9193034#profile http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Avedon http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1473132/Richard-Avedon.htm- l?pageNum=1 http://www.avedonfoundation.org/about/ http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/fashion/14AVEDON.html?pagewant- ed=all&_r=0 44