Richard Avedon makes a portrait out of almost nothing.
A white background and a face. He’s a photographer who knows the exact moment to press the shutter.
On November 11, Netflix releases Avedon, a new documentary from director Ron Howard. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this spring, and it runs 1 hour and 44 minutes.
What’s In The Film
The archive.
According to Netflix, the film draws on Avedon’s personal archive, including stills shown publicly for the first time and behind-the-scenes footage of him at work. And, it adds new interviews with his closest collaborators.
Imagine Documentaries and Fifth Season made the film in association with the Richard Avedon Foundation. Brian Grazer and Ron Howard are among the producers.
Howard calls Avedon “an artist whose work continues to resonate,” and says he wanted to show the humanity and curiosity behind the pictures.
Netflix positions the film around one idea: that Avedon’s most famous images tell only part of the story.
He photographed movie stars and presidents, coal miners and drifters. His fashion and portrait work shaped how America thought about style and beauty for decades.
Who Was Richard Avedon?
Avedon was born in New York in 1923. He started out as a fashion photographer at Harper’s Bazaar in the mid-1940s, learning from the legendary art director Alexey Brodovitch. He moved to Vogue in 1966, and in 1992 he became the first staff photographer at The New Yorker.
His fashion pictures made him iconic. Models were laughing, running, and jumping, at a time when most fashion photography the models stood still.
His 1955 picture Dovima with Elephants is still one of the most famous fashion photographs ever made.
Then there are the portraits. Avedon put artists, politicians, writers, and especially everyday working people in front of the same plain white background.
He let their faces carry the picture.
His best-known project, In the American West, came out of five years on the road from 1979 to 1984, commissioned by the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth.
On that project he photographed miners, ranchers, drifters, and oil field workers with an 8×10 view camera, in open shade, against white paper. The prints were big, life-size and larger.
Avedon died in 2004, while on assignment for The New Yorker. He was 81.
Image Credit: Netflix
Some Ideas To Try From Avedon’s Approach
Strip the background. A white wall or a roll of seamless paper takes away every clue about place and status. And what’s left? The person. Maybe try it with your next portrait and see how much more the face has to say.
Shoot in open shade. Avedon’s Western portraits were made in soft, even light. Find the shady side of a building on a bright day and and use some of the same kind of light.
Stand beside the camera. With the 8×10, Avedon stood next to the lens and talked with the person in front of him while his assistant handled the camera. The connection between photographer and subject is the picture. Set your camera on a tripod, use a remote, and look your subject in the eye.
Wait. Avedon let silence do some of the work. People hold a pose, then let it go. That moment after the pose is often the real portrait.
Print it big. Avedon’s portraits were made for the wall. If you’ve got a portrait you love, print it larger than feels comfortable and see what it does in the room.
How To Watch
- Avedon streams on Netflix starting November 11, 2026
- Runtime: 1 hour 44 minutes
- Directed by Ron Howard, from Imagine Documentaries and Fifth Season, with the Richard Avedon Foundation
Want to go deeper after the credits roll? Avedon’s books are a great next step: In the American West, Avedon: Photographs 1947-1977, and Richard Avedon: Portrait.
A Good Night In
Avedon spent sixty years proving that a portrait can hold a whole life inside one frame. This is a film built from his own archive and is a good opportunity to see how he did it.
Let’s make some popcorn. And – then go make a portrait.
Sources
- Richard Avedon Netflix Documentary Directed By Ron Howard: Release Date, News, Netflix Tudum
- Ron Howard’s Documentary ‘Avedon’ Acquired by Netflix, Awards Radar
- AVEDON Documentary from Ron Howard Acquired by Netflix, BroadwayWorld
- Netflix’s ‘Avedon’: Story, Release Date, and Everything You Need to Know, Netflix Junkie
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