Richard Avedon | SFMOMA | United States | SAN FRANCISCO Museum of Modern Art

THE SAN FRANCISCO Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is halfway through its four-month Richard Avedon retrospective -- the first one of its kind in the United States since the famed photographer’s death in 2004. Renowned for his distinctive portraiture style, Avedon started out as a fashion photographer during the early 1950s (his iconic 1968 image of Twiggy will live on forever) before turning his lens to a variety of figures from all realms of society. He has photographed writers, artists (including Andy Warhol, the Beatles, and last but not least, Björk, whom he photographed four months before his death), government officials, and -- through perhaps one of his most well-known collections, In the American West -- the ordinary working class of rural America who are anything but ordinary. The SFMOMA is the only U.S. venue on tap to host the 200-plus-photograph retrospective, which offers a rare glimpse into the soul of the man behind the camera. “Richard Avedon: Photographs 1946–2004,” through November 29. www.sfmoma.org