Viewing Richard Avedon: Facing West & Nan Goldin: The Ballad of Sexual Dependency 

An unmissable Gagosian photography double bill kicks off this week across the gallery’s spaces on Grosvenor Hill and Davies Street, presenting the thrilling work of two American artists whose influence is unmatched and esteem unrivalled.

At Grosvenor Hill, an exhibition of work by Richard Avedon features rare prints from the artist’s work In the American West (1979 – 1984). Curated by the late photographer’s granddaughter Caroline Avedon, this show celebrates the groundbreaking series, forty years after it was first shown, that changed the way the world looked at America and expanded Avedon’s visionary approach beyond the fashion work he was widely known for.

Meanwhile on Davies Street, Nan Goldin’s book, The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, is transformed into an exhibition, with all 126 photographs exhibited together. Made around the same time as In the American West, they form an interesting and contrasting dialogue with Avedon, a deeply personal, arresting and equally radical chronicle of American life, and an ode to a generation ravaged by the AIDS crisis and addiction.