Name: Norma Stevens
Occupation: Executive Director, The Richard Avedon Foundation
Residence: New York City
Charlie Chaplin by Richard Avedon, 1952
Why I chose this picture: I worked with Richard Avedon for 30 years, managing the business of his studio. When I got married, he gave us an original print of this image of Charlie Chaplin as a wedding gift. It’s hanging in my house. I love it — the wit, the humor, the vitality. And I love what it says — it’s a political image.
For years, Richard wanted to photograph Charles Chaplin, but (Chaplin) always said no. Then one day, the telephone rang, and it was Charles Chaplin. He said, “If you want to photograph me, today is the day.” So Dick hung up and called him back, and it really was Chaplin! He said, “I want to be photographed right now.” So Avedon canceled his sittings — sometimes he’d have two in a day — and Chaplin comes into the studio on East 75th Street and says, “Here I am. Let’s get to work.”
They photographed all day. At the end of the day, when everyone was exhausted, Chaplin said, “I have something for you.” He put his head down, and brings his fingers up like horns, and he was laughing, like he is in the picture.
The next day, (Avedon) heard on the radio that Chaplin had gone to the Hudson River, where a boat was waiting for him with his family, and out (into international waters), onto a bigger ship. He was hiding out — the I.R.S. wanted him for tax evasion, and (Rep. Eugene) McCarthy was calling him a Communist. So his last message to the United States was, “See what a devil I am?”
If you go
“Richard Avedon: Portraits of Power” at the Corcoran Gallery of Art
Through Jan. 25, 2009
Corcoran Gallery of Art
500 17th St. NW
Admission: $14; $12 seniors/military; $10 students
More information: www.corcoran.org
