Shivangi Sinha
Netflix’s ‘Avedon’ paints a picture not just of Richard Avedon’s professional success but also of his relationship with his sister. Anyone who knew him was aware that he shared a deep connection with Louise Avedon. She has, in fact, been called his first muse, whose inspiration continued to linger in the rest of his work. As his only sister, she held a special place in his heart, and witnessing the difficult life she led surely had a lasting impact on him as well.
Louise Avedon Had Struggled With Her Mental Health From a Young Age
Louise M. Avedon was born on April 2, 1926, in New York to Jacob “Jack” Avedon and Anna Polonsky. To her older brother, Richard Avedon, she was the epitome of beauty and someone he deeply loved. Louise graduated from Julia Richman High School, an all-girls school, in 1945. Richard once shared how he had taken a negative photograph of her, stuck it to his arm and sat in the sun with it so that her image would leave an impression on him. He said he was always mesmerized by how pretty she was. In one of his interviews, he also recalled his mother saying, “With her skin and eyes, Louise didn’t need to open her mouth.”
However, this was not all there was to Louise’s life. She began showing signs of mental illness when she was a teenager. Her parents sought psychiatric care for her, but her condition did not improve. Richard once shared that she had become completely silent. He said he had always thought that the burden of her beauty had caused her to shut herself off from everything else. She went on to become one of the first muses of the prominent photographer, who employed her in his photo studio as a Kodachrome retoucher. He photographed her throughout her childhood and teenage years, and some of the styles he developed through those portraits later became his signature.
By her mid-20s, Louise’s health had deteriorated further. According to accounts, she became increasingly withdrawn from reality and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. One account describes her as having become almost catatonic. Richard struggled to watch his sister shut down in this way. In 1955, her parents admitted her to Rockland State Hospital in Orangeburg, New York. Her condition continued to worsen over time. Recalling one of the last times he had seen her, Richard said that she could barely manage to say a sentence and had to be spoon-fed.
Louise Avedon Passed Away in a Psychiatric Institution
On January 18, 1968, Louise passed away at the psychiatric institution where she had been staying. The cause of death was determined to be arteriosclerotic heart disease, which had resulted in a heart attack. She was just 41 years old. Her family decided to have her remains cremated. Louise had been a major influence in Richard’s life, and he spoke about her on many occasions. Even his son, John Avedon, remembered hearing stories about his aunt, which shows how Richard continued to keep her memory alive long after her passing.
