Avedon 100

This poster featuring Marian Anderson, contralto, in the role of Ulrica in Un Ballo in Maschera, New York, June 30, 1955 (1955) was produced in 2023, in conjunction with Avedon 100 at Gagosian, 522 West 21st Street, New York, an exhibition celebrating the centenary of Richard Avedon’s birth. The photographs in the show were selected by more than 150 people—including prominent artists, designers, musicians, writers, curators, and fashion world representatives—who were invited to elaborate on the impact of the photographer’s work today. This image, picturing the great American contralto, was selected by Antwaun Sargent, who writes: “I like to imagine it is the emission of a single, perfect note from a hymn of rich, tremendous faith.”