# Ron Howard's Avedon captures a master of the human face

> A new documentary traces Richard Avedon's fifty-year career from fashion photography to social protest, revealing how he saw himself in every subject.
- Title: Ron Howard's Avedon captures a master of the human face · TIME
- Summary: A new documentary traces Richard Avedon's fifty-year career from fashion photography to social protest, revealing how he saw himself in every subject.
- Keywords: richard avedon, ron howard, documentary, photography, fashion photography, portraiture, TIME
- Source: TIME — https://time.com/article/2026/11/11/avedon-documentary-review-ron-howard
- Author: Stephanie Zacharek
- Published: 2026-11-11T14:00:05.659+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: richard avedon, ron howard, documentary, photography, fashion photography, portraiture, news, world
## A fashion photographer who saw deeper
Richard Avedon began his career in the early nineteen forties and died in two thousand four following a cerebral hemorrhage.
## The spiritual side of fashion
Avedon's nineteen fifty-five photograph Dovima With Elephants shows a supermodel in a two-tone Dior gown standing between two elephants with outstretched arms.
## Discovering himself in others
Ron Howard's documentary Avedon shows how the photographer captured public figures like Malcolm X, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, and Henry Kissinger.

> He exalts the individual. His work is very much about trying to discover himself in other people's faces, in other people's lives.
## Photography as social protest
In nineteen sixty-three, Avedon photographed members of the Daughters of the American Revolution at a convention.In nineteen thirty-nine, the DAR had barred African American opera singer Marian Anderson from singing at Constitution Hall.
## The white background reveals truth
For his project In the American West, completed in nineteen eighty-four, Avedon explained his preference for a plain white background.

> One cowboy against a white background represents all cowboys. Whereas if he's leaning against a fence post, he's just a cowboy.
## A lifetime of capturing life before it vanishes
Avedon grew up in Manhattan with a younger sister Louise, whom he adored and photographed constantly.Louise struggled with mental illness and schizophrenia.
## Key takeaway

Ron Howard's documentary Avedon shows how the photographer's technique of capturing human essence informed his entire fifty-year career across fashion, portraiture and social commentary.