In Memory of the Late Mr. and Mrs. Comfort: A Fable in 24 Episode, 1995

Death has been a consistent presence in Avedon's work -- his celebration of beauty and elegance balanced with images that tell of transience and mortality. Surely of relevance in tracing the roots of this insistent shadow were Avedon's very beginnings as a war-time naval photographer, making the functional record portraits of recruits that would all-too-frequently become memento mori. This remarkable suite of images for New Yorker magazine -- a grandiose and complex pictorial contrivance -- is a powerfully symbolic, elegiac alliance of the twin themes of ephemeral seductions and unarguable finality.

This portfolio was produced in a limited edition of 16 plus 2 printer's proofs. Additional images available upon request.