AVEDON'S STUDIOS, PART 3
During the years that I assisted Richard Avedon (1952-56 and 1959-65) he had three different studios in New York City. The first two of these were discussed on previous posts: 640 Madison Ave. and 203 East 49th St. (click to read). When I returned from my mandatory army service in late 1959 he had already moved into new, larger quarters at 110 East 58th Street, between Park and Lexington avenues. Functionally, this was a huge improvement as it provided considerably more shooting space for both Avedon and his associate photographer, Hiro Wakabayashi. It also had better darkrooms, more office space, and a penthouse suite with offices for both Avedon and his sales representative.
I believe that the building originally served as a telephone exchange, or something like that due to its sturdy construction, thick walls, and high ceilings. It was five stories high, with an additional penthouse half-floor, one elevator, and a largish staircase. Avedon occupied the top (fifth) floor as well as the penthouse. Sadly, the building was torn down several years after I left, probably in the late 1970s or early 80s. I have not been able to find a picture of it, but here (photo, right) is a recent (July '08) one of its replacement structure.The rest of the block still looks pretty much the same.
The rough diagram below was drawn from memory (after 43 years!) and shows the layout of the studio, although it is not to scale and may contain minor errors. The circled numbers correspond to numbers in parentheses in the text below that.
Stepping off the elevator (1) led past a pay phone that no one ever used and through a black steel door to a reception area (2) with a large L-shaped Formica counter and a seating banquette covered in green fabric. Behind this sat the receptionist, Maggie Geiger, with her old-fashioned telephone switchboard, and behind that an enclosed office (3) for Avedon's secretary, Sue Mosel.
The hallway (4) to the left was decorated with a large original poster by Toulouse-Lautrec — just about the only bit of décor in an otherwise spartan layout. Oh, there were some of Dick's photos stuck on the wall as well.
On the left side of the hallway were doors to Sue's office, a restroom (5) and the main dressing room (6) — which had its own restroom. From here, a movable wall on wheels created a private office (7) for the accountant, who I think was called Chick. He was not a studio employee but worked for the Fifth Avenue firm of Becker & Roemer, which handled all of Avedon's financial affairs.
You are now entering the stage for many of his most notable photographs as well as the locus for the countless advertising images that paid the bills.
The rear wall had large windows looking smack into bedrooms of an adjacent hotel on the northeast corner of Park Avenue and 57th Street. For decency's sake, the shades were kept drawn. Along that wall was a stereo system that I had installed so his sittings could be enlivened with music. Mostly, the records played were by Sinatra, Armstrong, Fitzgerald, Astaire, and the like, along with Broadway tunes. There was also a huge Eames chair (8) of molded plywood and black leather, complete with ottoman, that was donated by the film director Mike Nichols when it wouldn't fit in his apartment. It was my favorite place to relax.
The only other furniture consisted of a picnic table with benches and a few director's chairs. White paint covered the walls and ceiling, while the concrete floor was painted battleship grey. This was truly a neutral environment that didn't get in the way of his creativity.
A long, high movable panel (perhaps 18 feet long by 12 feet tall) on wheels formed the third wall of the shooting area (9), the "stage" on which the dramas unfolded. Above the open side facing the camera was hung a large white canvas panel on an aluminum frame, whose position could be controlled by a series of ropes and pulleys. This was used to bounce flat frontal light right onto the subject (or victim being photographed, depending on your POV). The light for this came from a massive Ascor flash head mounted on the end of a boom, connected to two banks of huge capacitors and a control console on wheels, as in the diagram below. Additional large movable panels with both white and black sides further controlled the light.
At the front of the studio complex, facing East 58th Street, was the smaller studio area (10) that was almost exclusively used by Avedon's associate photographer Hiro Wakabayashi. This had a huge overhead bank of tungsten lights suspended from rails that could be moved and angled by remote control. It produced abundant light at 3200° K, perfect for use with type B color film. There was also a dressing room (11), a storage area, and a cozy corner by a window with a white circular table. Avedon himself hardly ever used this studio.
Back to the reception area. Looking straight ahead was a work room (12) with a huge table, about 3' x 8', with picnic-type benches on either side. This is where we gathered to eat, chat, and work on layouts. Often around lunch time a large pile of assorted sandwiches would be sent up from a nearby deli, and everyone would dig in. Sometimes one of Avedon's friends would show up just in time for a free lunch!
The wide countertop following three walls held a lightbox for viewing transparencies, a print trimmer, and a dry-mounting press, along with other tools. Here we numbered negatives and performed many of the other routine tasks involved in picture production. Above and below this were storage cabinets for supplies.
A steel stairway (13) led up to a loft above the darkrooms, where negatives and prints were stored in cardboard boxes. Below the steps was a small kitchenette and a fridge, and the ever-present pot of coffee. There was also a water cooler.
Now for the darkrooms:
First on the right was a film drying room (14), where freshly processed film was hung up to dry, helped along by infrared heaters. Opposite this stood a Pako belt-type print dryer, and a Pako rotary print washer. The black & white film darkroom (15), which also served for loading cut-film holders, was next. It had a large, deep stainless-steel temperature-controlled sink which held four 3½-gallon deep tanks and a film washer. Roll film was wound onto Nikor stainless reels, which were placed in a basket holding up to 18 rolls of 120 film and immersed into the tanks in the proper sequence. Timing was controlled by a GraLab timer with luminous hands as everything was of course done in total darkness. Sheet film went into hangers, which fit into a special basket for immersion in the tanks.
At first used for making black & white contact and rough prints, the color film processing room (16) was equipped with the first Color Automat machine in America. Although it could automatically do most any developing job, film or print, black & white or color, we used it exclusively for Ektachrome film in both the 8x10 sheet and 120 roll formats.
Finally, the large finish print darkroom (17). This is where I made most of his "finish" prints from around 1961 through 1965, including all of the prints used in the Nothing Personal book of 1965.
That's it for the main floor. Stairs next to the elevator led up to the penthouse, which had two large, sun-filled rooms plus a small restroom next to the elevator motors. The first large room was the office (18) of Avedon's sales representative, Laura Kanelous. Beyond it was Avedon's private office (19), which he almost never used. Instead, it served as a classroom for Alexey Brodovitch, who had retired as an art director and was now teaching selected students his approach to graphics.
Scattered throughout the entire studio were pairs of white and black telephones. The black ones went through the switchboard, an old device right out of the 1930s with plugs and wires. They were primarily for incoming calls, so (for example) if a call was for me in the print darkroom the receptionist could switch it directly there. The white ones had unlisted numbers and were for outgoing calls, bypassing the front desk.
Sometime around 1963 or '64 Avedon, his wife Evie and son John moved from their Park Avenue apartment near 65th Street to a charming townhouse on Riverview Terrace at the far end of East 58th Street, which was still within walking distance of the studio. This was a tiny, private gated street overlooking the East River and the Queensboro Bridge. His house was the second from the right in this recent (July '08) photo. I was not able to get closer without arousing suspicions!
Avedon's previous homes were always equipped with maid and cook, but this time he went all out and hired a butler as well!
RETURN to the Avedon Years Index.
Comments