He photographed characters from the humble to the grand, the fallen to the fashionable, all in an elegant style that arguably redefined modern portraiture. But it was legendary lensman Richard Avedon’s stark images of the people he encountered on a five-year, 189-town expedition through 13 states that resonate the strongest. Now, on this, the 20th anniversary of Avedon’s original landmark exhibit of those influential photographs, the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, once again opens its doors to celebrate the late photographer’s uncanny ability to draw the essence of a person — faults and all — through a lens and onto film. In the American West: Photographs by Richard Avedon, September 17, 2005, to January 6, 2006, (817) 738-1933, www.cartermuseum.org
— Rob Brinkley