Self-Portrait by Richard Avedon (1923-2004)
Photographer Annie Leibovitz doesn’t talk to her subjects when photographing them. “I certainly can’t talk to people and take pictures at the same time. For one thing, I look through a viewfinder when I work.” (1)
But famed photographer Richard Avedon had a different style. Leibovitz observed that Avedon “seduced his subjects with conversation. He had a Rolleiflex that he would look down at and then up from. It was never in front of his face” but next to him while he talked. (1)
Truman Capote, author of "In Cold Blood" and "Breakfast at Tiffany's" photographed by Richard Avedon in New York City, 1955.
In this way, Avedon got what he wanted from his sitter. According to writer Truman Capote, Avedon was interested in “the mere condition of a face.”
The Duchess and Duke of Windsor with one of their beloved pugs.
Some, though, felt that Avedon’s impulses had a cruel edge, showing the face in a harsh light. Here’s a case in point: In 1957, Richard Avedon scheduled a New York City appointment to photograph the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom and Wallis Warfield Simpson of Baltimore. The Windsors were very practiced at putting on happy, regal faces for the camera and Avedon anticipated that. As a royal pair, they were endlessly photographed since they had nothing better to do with themselves since the Duke abdicated the British throne in 1936, giving up crown and kingdom, and moving to France with Wallis.
But Avedon didn’t want that kind of stock photo of the royal pair. According to another fellow photographer, Diane Arbus, Avedon knew that the Windsors were avid dog lovers and would use this knowledge to cruel advantage.
Valet in livery of the Bois de Bologne, Paris home of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor with pugs Mr. Disraeli, Mr. Chu, Trooper, Imp, and Davy Crockett
In 1997, Sotheby's auctioned off the contents of the Paris home of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Included in their possessions were these pug pillows arranged at the foot of the Duchess' bed. Although Wallis, the Duchess, was fastidious about cleanliness, she allowed the pugs to sleep in the bed with her. "“Paper money for the Duchess was either ordered new and crisp from a bank or wash cleaned and ironed by the housemaids; coins were always washed. Each evening, just before dinner was served, two maids could be found carrying bedsheets through the halls by their corners; the bed linens, having just been ironed, were destined for the rooms of the Duke and Duchess. Wallis could not stand wrinkles in her bed….Once the bed was made, a plastic sheet was spread atop the satin eiderdown so that the pugs could climb onto the bed with Wallis; there she would feed them the hand-baked dog biscuits prepared fresh each day by her chef. Usually the pugs slept on the bed with her, although the Duke’s favorite might disappear through the boudoir to his own spot at the foot of his master’s bed.” The Duchess of Windsor: The Uncommon Life of Wallis Simpson by Greg King
This is what he did: When Avedon arrived at the appointment to photograph the Windsors, he got them seated just as he wanted them then told them a lie. He explained how, on his way to meet them, his taxi had accidentally run over a dog in the street and killed it. As the Windsors flinched with sympathetic horror, Avedon clicked the shutter – and caught their expression. Here is that photo.
The Duchess and Duke of Windsor, New York, 1957. Photograph by Richard Avedon
The photograph caused an international sensation. Some said it made the Duchess look like a toad. British Royalists were outraged at the unflattering portrait. But Avedon defended lying to the couple to conceive the portrait, arguing that his photographs tended to show what people were really like.
If that was indeed true, the Windsors appeared to be two very dreadful people, a suspicion already aroused by their most ungracious familiarity with Adolf Hitler and his Nazi cronies in the pre WWII years. While living in an elegant Paris home provided by the French government on a lavish income bestowed on them by the British government, the Windsors regularly made pro-fascist remarks to the press as well as disparaging comments about their lack of loyalty to either of their host countries, France and Britain. They palled around with British traitors like Oswald Mosley and wife Diana Mitford in the French countryside until the Duke’s brother, the reigning King George VI of the United Kingdom got wise to the danger and shipped them off to the Bahamas for the duration of the war.
Avedon once remarked that the Windsors loved dogs more than they loved Jews.
(1) Leibovitz, Annie. Annie Leibovitz at Work. New York: Random House, 2008.
Readers: For more posts on this site on Annie Leibovitz or the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, scroll down the right sidebar: Categories: People.
Lisa's History Room 
[…] first photo i asked her to just sit and look at me and for the second one i pulled a page from the richard avedon playbook and asked her how she’d feel if anything bad happened to maggie (our dog). she immediately […]
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Dear Lisa-
Write some more, please. I really enjoy your writing.
Jody
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Jody, thank you. I will continue to try to please you. Keep coming back and check out my list of writings.
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Lisa, I loved reading this. Found it looking for a link to post on my blog, as I was writing about this exact portrait… Hope you don’t mind me linking to this on fliparoid.tumblr.com …
In addition, I’ve always heard the story told as that besides Avedon telling the dog-hit-and-run-story, he intently arrived half an hour late for the shoot as to piss off ‘the Windsors’…
No idea if this is true, but as I said, that’s what I was told…
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Thanks for the link. Yes, Avedon was late on purpose. He doesn’t sound as if he was a very nice fellow. Then again, the Windsors were Nazis….
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Lisa, love your dirty dish on Wallis Simpson – the Duchess.
I’m in the process of writing a book having her and Eddie as minor characters, but referred to by other dead ones in idle conversation using their real history as you know it, Nazi lovers etc. Would I get sued once the book gets published by the estate? I was thinking of name dropping a series of dead celebs and their tawdry declines and lives as filler in my book. Again, would I get sued if I changed the real dead celeb name and just use some facts of their lives leading to their downfalls etc.?
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What you are proposing to write is totally legit; the novel is a roman a clef. Sounds juicy!
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What you hve written about The Windsors is rubbish.Did you even read Greg King’s book?Avedon the liar is entitled to talk about the Windsor’s lack of principles?It would be hilarious if it were not so pathetic.They were perfectly wonderful people.They did a tremendous service in Nassau.As well as philanthropy their entire lives.You really should be ashamed of your callous and petty remarks in their regard.It is one thing to challenge and accuse the living who can defend themselves if need be.But to cast aspersions and ridicule the dead is heinous.-D
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Donielle, I am afraid that you will be the only member of the fan club you suggest. The weight of history is against your opinion that the Duke and Duchess of W were good people! May I suggest that you keep doing some research?
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Lisa,
This so called “Duchess” also called the people of Nassau “Lazy N_____s”! The person above praising this women has not a clue! Love your post by the way! Thanks for the good read.
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I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you. Keep coming back!
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You really should edit the N word Yikes! Lisa you should ask your followers to do the same or delete it till edit made.
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Kris, good catch. I have edited it out. Lisa
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I agree with Lisa. I have read many, many things about the Duke and Duchess and I can tell you these weren’t people to be admired. Thank goodness he abdicated when he did because he was such a weakling no telling where he may have lead the United Kingdom. There are so many great books out there about them and several good ones about Diana Moseley, one of the Mitford sisters.
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Aren’t the Mitford sisters interesting in a terrible way? Nazis
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The Duke and Duchess of Windsor were, I’m sure, like everyone else – a mixture of good and bad. If anyone can find me a human being who is all good or all bad I’d be very interested to meet him/her. We all judge others according to our ideas of right and wrong, good and bad, but I suppose we shouldn’t, since I daresay none of our lives would stand up to close scrutiny. We all make mistakes and do things that aren’t praiseworthy at times, but no one is dissecting our lives and thus our faults aren’t trumpeted for all to read … and probably just as well.
The Windsors are long dead – let them rest in peace.
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Nazi sympathizers are not deserving of sympathy, Auriol.
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You are right we all have both, but I don’t go around calling people racial slurs and giving state secrets to enemy countries! People like them don’t get to rest in peace.
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Denise, you must be up on your history. Hooray! Thanks for the intelligent comments.
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[…] light in an effort to strip through any public image or facade they may have established. In one famous story of his deliberate efforts to achieve this, Avedon lied to the Duchess and Duke of Windsor to get […]
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donielle is right. The Windsors were the victims of bad press. No matter what they did, someone would twist it until it ended up negative. Unfortunately, because most journalists and authors are lazy, instead of attempting to find out for themselves, they just copy what someone else has already written and the negativity continues to this day.
My grandmother socialized with the Duchess when she (Wallis) visited Horseshoe Plantation near Tallahassee and she always said Wallis was a delightful woman. She did say, however, the Duke could be somewhat moody and would sometimes back out of a dinner or other event at the last moment.
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Lacy, no photographer “twisted” the photo of the Duke and Duchess smiling and shaking the hands of Adolf Hitler. That was “for real” and speaks mountains about how dangerous they were.
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Perhaps some of you (Lisa) may want to watch the biography of Edward on Edward dvd or video which is narrated by Prince Edward (Elizabeth’s) youngest son. He felt compelled to research and provide real documentation about his Great Uncle and Aunt HRH The Duke and Duchess of Windsor where he dismisses and breaks down all of the lies and bad press that these two individuals had to endure during their lives. This documentary is factual and is based upon documents that he was able to have access to by his mother the Queen and by the British Government’s archives. Not some wanna be writer who wants to make up and add his or her twist to people they never even met or to take a photo and make a assumption about what these people were doing or thinking at the time. There are plenty of people who have been photographed with questionable characters throughout modern times does not mean they agree or in favor of that person, i.e, George Bush and Ronald Regan had business and personal relationships with Saddam Husein so one could argue that they must have been in agreement with how he treated his people.. the list goes on..
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My grandparents hosted the Winsors regularly at Bull Run Plantation. I have also heard wonderful things about them. One of my favorite stories is my grandmother taking wallis to my moms farm to swim in the “pool” which was a blow up pool. Grandmother was mortified! (my mom just told her she had a pool with a deck around it, lol!). The Winsors were perfectly comfortable swimming and enjoying an afternoon cocktail floating in the 50 dollar blowup pool. A sign of true class if you ask me.
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Makes me wonder how some of the people on here have so much hate towards two people you did not even know in your life… You want to believe the smears that were written about them in the archaic 1930’s and 40’s simply because they loved each other and she was divorced. Write about the Queen’s three children and all three failed marriages (way to go queen you did a great job) and mental abuse they had their wives endure.
HRH The Duchess of Windsor and the Duke were dignified and graceful in every way than any of the clowns that are in the royal family today!
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History wise,MOST of the hatred stuff you’re suggesting to be true about the Windsors has been proven to be forged or simply rumours,Yes,the Hitler photograph’s totally genuine but ACTUAL and respected biographers and historians are insisting that this 1937 trip to Germany was nothing more than just an ill-advised “peace” mission
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The Windsors were married in a French mansion owned by a Nazi organizer. Wake up and smell the coffee. Sometimes the truth is true.
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well,i don’t think that’s the only thing(being Nazi sympathizers)you accused them off…they probably were but then again it’s a fact that MOST aristocrats were fascists back then(which doesn’t make it all ok but still…)!despite our little disagreement i’ve to say i love your site,great work!
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If we are to believe anything negative about them (WE) it might just be that they never EVER picked up the tab for a meal or a drink – if they invited you out (so it is written) to dinner, “David” would act the knowledgeable host & sommelier, but it was “Muggins” (yes – YOU!) that wound up paying the check that sat for ages on the table top (that is, if we are to believe what has been written). Considering the fact that they did indeed have a good deal of do re mi, that makes a rather good case for saying that they weren’t the world’s greatest couple (again, based on what was written – I never wound up getting stuck with the check, but then WE didn’t invite me out – quelle domage!)
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I have heard this about the Windsors repeatedly. Not only did they not pick up the check, they were paid for their appearances at dinner parties. Thanks for this juicy tidbit, Tom.
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One also wonders what their “rate” was at The Waldorf Towers – middle of WWIi traveling with 120+ pieces of luggage (OK it was LV & Goyard) but really, with the income that WE had, how could they turn out to be the world’s greatest moochers?? One would like to know!
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What do you mean by the income that WE had, Tom? The Windsors felt entitled to everything.
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Well of course – THANK YOU for reminding me – I guess their POV was that if you were lucky enough to be in WE’s company, you better take care of everything down to the last slurp of caviar . . . well with Wallis driving the bus what other choice did you have? David to Wallace: “Wallace – please don’t send me to bed in tears again. . . ”
I liked the fact that when WE were in the Bahamas, and Wallace was writing a letter to her friends, she would cross out “Government House” on the stationery and replace it with “Elba” – lemme tell you, Elba should be so lucky . . .
Unhappy, yes – Exiled – priceless . . . .
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I do believe that the author Greg King really did not know the true story of Wallis Simpson he seems to portray her as a victim when we all know that she was sly and discarded husbands like litter. Edward betrayed his country and betrayed the working class with lies of that he would work for them to have a better life all for a lying and tacky women I find grubby They both deserve each other.
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Does anybody know the whole story. Grant her she had style there are not to many left to tear apart. May they rest in peace
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[…] with their six pugs (Disraeli, Davey Crockett, Black Diamond, Imp, Trooper, and Ginseng) and 11 tapestry pug cushions (later sold for $13,800 ). However it seems Pugs do travel, with Pugmania now catapulting around […]
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I have read a great deal over the past 30 or so years about WE and have to say that the bottom line is this:
They were very self-centered and selfish;
They behaved in a way that the aristocracy in Britain today would be ashamed;
They had zero regard for others;
The attitude of King George and Queen Elizabeth towards them was entirely justified.
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“The Duke and Duchess of Windsor: We Are
Not Amused Lisa’s History Room” definitely causes me personally imagine a little bit extra. I treasured every single part of this blog post. Thanks for your time ,Isabel
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[…] The Duke and Duchess of Windsor: We Are Not Amused | Lisa's … […]
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Avedon was unremarkable and admittedly deceitful. Anyone with a camera can just keep photographing and eventually catching anyone in a poor expression. This is merely memorialized it appears because of their political belief being different from his. This is shameful.
And the ending quote attributable to Avedon concerning the Jews was not the quote of the royal couple. But it obviously is presented to present them in a fashion to demonize them. With that quote in mind, I wonder who would want to do this?
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[…] The duke and Duchess of Windsor: We are not amused. Available at: https://lisawallerrogers.com/2009/10/09/the-duke-and-duchess-of-windsor-we-are-not-amused/ (Accessed: 8 December […]
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[…] (2009) The duke and Duchess of Windsor: We are not amused. Available at: https://lisawallerrogers.com/2009/10/09/the-duke-and-duchess-of-windsor-we-are-not-amused/ (Accessed: 8 December […]
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[…] (2009) The duke and Duchess of Windsor: We are not amused. Available at: https://lisawallerrogers.com/2009/10/09/the-duke-and-duchess-of-windsor-we-are-not-amused/ (Accessed: 8 December […]
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[…] L. W., 2009. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor: We Are Not Amused. [Online] Available at: https://lisawallerrogers.com/2009/10/09/the-duke-and-duchess-of-windsor-we-are-not-amused/ [Accessed 14 Septmeber […]
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