Richard Avedon Performance

"Performance" sizzles with the electric charge that passes between a great photographer and an incandescent artist when they share a purpose and a passion. The photographer Richard Avedon had, in his own words, 'a passion for high-definition performance and a faith in the religion of perpetual acceleration'. Or, as critic John Lahr says of Avedon, 'He was ravished by the articulate energy of great performers'. The preeminent stars and artists of the performing arts from the second half of the twentieth century offered Avedon their greatest gifts - and, sometimes, their inner lives.

More than two hundred of them are portrayed in "Performance", many in photographs that have rarely or never been seen before. Of course, the great stars light the way: Hepburn and Chaplin, Monroe and Garland, Brando and Sinatra. But here are too the actors and comedians, pop stars and divas, and musicians dancers, artists in all mediums with public lives that were and are essentially performances.