BELLAS ARTES

In 1952, after becoming one of the first-ever recipients of a Master of Science degree in Photography at Chicago’s Institute of Design, native New Yorker Marvin E. Newman returned to his hometown. Like many artists before, he set about chronicling the city. Unlike his predecessors, Newman chose color photography as the preeminent medium for capturing the people and energy of New York, and its emergence in the 1950s as the self-proclaimed “Greatest City in the World.”

Avedon 100 celebrates Richard Avedon’s enduring influence on photography and makes clear his profound impression on visual culture worldwide. Published on the occasion of the eponymous exhibition at Gagosian, New York, in 2023, this striking illustrated catalog celebrates the centenary of the iconic photographer’s birth. Over one hundred celebrated artists, designers, musicians, writers, curators, and figures from the world of fashion were asked to select a photograph by Avedon and elaborate on the ways in which both the image and artist have made an impact on their lives. Participants include Hilton Als, Naomi Campbell, Elton John, Spike Lee, Sally Mann, Polly Mellen, Kate Moss, Chloë Sevigny, Taryn Simon, Christy Turlington, and Jonas Wood.

Where does craftsmanship end and art begin? What makes something a product, a brand impervious to time and fashions? These are the questions posed while strolling between the past and the present of Baglietto, the Italian shipyard that has been building world-class yachts for 170 years. Success is not built in an instant. Being good, looking to the future, imposing a style that lasts over time is the gamble every entrepreneur takes. There are not many who succeed, which is why those who reach the age of 170 deserve to be studied, as well as celebrated. Baglietto is now a kind of great international club, access to which serves the right mix of passion for the sea, refined taste for boats that is never over-the-top but rather soberly chic, and, of course, the right spending capacity for objects that cost.