TEACHING OTHERS
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An almost forgotten aspect of Richard Avedon's career was his involvement with the Famous Photographers School, an educational organization that taught photography to tens of thousands via a mail correspondence course. Organized in 1961 by the famed commercial photographer Victor Keppler (1904-1987), it was part of the Famous Artists School, which also had a Famous Writers School. The parent company was founded in 1948 by the great commercial artist Albert Dorne (1904-1965), and is still in business although the photography part of it folded circa 1972.
Now you may wonder whether it is really possible to teach anything about photography other than technique in a school, let alone by mail correspondence. But this course, if followed correctly, was actually quite good. 
The guiding faculty was made up of about ten (or so) well-known photographers in various branches of the business. These included, besides Keppler and Avedon, Philippe Halsman (1906-1979), Irving Penn (b. 1917), Bert Stern (b. 1929), and Alfred Eisenstaedt (1898-1995). Some of them are shown in the photo on the right, taken from the only image I could dig up.
They, of course, were not actually involved in teaching, which was left to professional educators. What they did was to organize and approve the texts, and set guiding standards. I was skeptical at first, but the text books were really excellent, and were filled with examples by the masters. Books of this quality probably could not be done today as the illustrative photos were their best works, taken from a vast array of magazines and other media. Many of them were of celebrities, whose images are copyrighted. Use of these in today's climate would involve expensive negotiations with their agents or estates.
I had only three contacts with the group, all between 1962 and 1964. One was when the individual photographers were photographed (photo, above) in Avedon's studio for advertising purposes on January 16, 1962, and another was when I went along with Avedon for a working lunch with Victor Keppler and his wife at a Paris restaurant.
My closest contact was when I went with Avedon to the school's central facility in Westport, Connecticut on January 29, 1964. On the way up we stopped for a visit with another famous photographer, Edward Steichen (1879-1973), at his country home. I do not recall whether he was part of the school or not. The school, along with its sister schools, occupied four large two-story buildings near the Westport waterfront, and had a large staff. What impressed me most, I'm afraid, was their huge, air-conditioned mainframe computer room. Individual instructors, sitting in cubicles, would review the students' completed assignments, and tap out codes into computer terminals. This would automatically, and efficiently, generate letters to the students commenting on their work and giving them new assignments. In this manner, it took only moments to grade each student's photos and guide them to improvement. All of this sounds very "Brave New World," but it actually worked.
The Famous Photographers School ceased operations in 1972, although the Famous Artists School still exists, located in Wilton, Connecticut.
A recent check with Amazon.com and eBay shows that the textbooks are available used, at fair prices. While the techniques they describe are obsolete today, the rest of the text remains inspirational. Find out more by entering Famous Photographers Course at the top of the last Amazon ad in the left-hand column of this blog. That will take you directly there.
I googled Famous Photographers School and found your site. I took that course in 1969 and I loved it and it helped me allot. I had the books and assignments until they were damaged by water and then I tossed them, I am sorry I did now. I went on to become a Photographer for The Commonwealth of Kentucky for 30+ yr. and had such a great career. I just thought, after all these years I would see if I could find any info on the sch. and am glad I found several links, I was surprised. I guess it had more merit than I thought. I loved Avedon's fashion photography and knew of the other photographers through mag's. You sound like you had great experiences through life, so far.
Posted by: Richard H. Upchurch | January 16, 2009 at 11:51 AM
I also took the Famous Photographers School course around 1966. Still I have all the books and some of the assignments with the instructors comments. I have since been a fervent admirer of Richard Avedon and his photography
Posted by: Victor Morales | January 24, 2009 at 09:59 PM
My mother worked in the photo lab at Famous Photographers School. She had studied photography at a school in New Haven, and pretty much she was the clerk who opened all the student work. But on her lunch hour, she got to use the state of the art dark-room with coaching from the others there.
One summer I went with her just about everyday, I would get picked up by the camp bus. At the end of my camp day I"d spend it in the library there and actually met Mr. Keppler and other 'famous' photographers. I remember them as kind and curious to see a 9 year old girl pouring over the books with glee.
We had all the sets as well, and the other schools' books, the magazine. . .they were lost to a move long ago. I miss them, they were a part of our family culture.
How lucky is that?
Posted by: Ann-Marie Madden Irwin | March 02, 2009 at 12:01 AM
Amazing site Thanks, "Mr. Author...".
Posted by: | October 15, 2009 at 08:20 PM