{
"data": {
"id": 163644,
"accession_number": "2005.143",
"share_license_status": "Copyrighted",
"tombstone": "In the American West: Ronald Fischer, beekeeper, Davis, California, May 9, 1981, 1981, printed 1985. Richard Avedon (American, 1923\u20132004). Gelatin silver print; image: 143.1 x 114.5 cm (56 5/16 x 45 1/16 in.); paper: 151.5 x 119.8 cm (59 5/8 x 47 3/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund, 2005.143. \u00a9 The Richard Avedon Foundation",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Ronald Fischer, beekeeper, Davis, California, May 9, 1981",
"series": "In the American West",
"creation_date": "1981, printed 1985",
"creation_date_earliest": 1981,
"creation_date_latest": 1981,
"artists_tags": [
"Jewish artists",
"male"
],
"culture": [
"America"
],
"technique": "gelatin silver print",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Photography",
"collection": "PH - American 1951-Present",
"type": "Photograph",
"measurements": "Image: 143.1 x 114.5 cm (56 5/16 x 45 1/16 in.); Paper: 151.5 x 119.8 cm (59 5/8 x 47 3/16 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"image": {
"height": 1.431,
"height_inch": 56,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.3125,
"width": 1.145,
"width_inch": 45,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.0625
},
"paper": {
"height": 1.515,
"height_inch": 59,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.625,
"width": 1.198,
"width_inch": 47,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.1875
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": "\u00a9 The Richard Avedon Foundation",
"inscriptions": [
{
"inscription": "Written and stamped on verso: \"In the American West\"/\"Richard Avedon warrents and represents that, aside from the signed and numbered photographs in this edition of 6 plus 2 artists proofs, no other photographs will be made by him or under his authority./This photograph may not be reproduced without the permission of Richard Avedon, Inc./(Copyright symbol) 1985 by Richard Avedon, Inc./All rights reserved/Ronald Fisher, beekeeper, Davis, California, 5/9/81\"",
"inscription_translation": null,
"inscription_remark": null,
"sortorder": null
}
],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [],
"legacy": [
{
"description": "Main Gallery Rotation (Gallery 229): April 14, 2014 - October 28, 2014.",
"opening_date": "2014-04-14T00:00:00"
}
]
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "(Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, CA)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": null,
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "September 6, 2005",
"sortorder": 2
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "There are between 115,000 and 125,000 beekeepers in the United States.",
"description": "Beginning in 1979, Avedon visited nearly 200 communities to chronicle often ignored and overlooked people who worked at hard, uncelebrated jobs. This iconic image is one of the most memorable portraits from the 775 he made for his landmark series In the American West. An entomologist from the University of California, Davis, brought 120,000 bees to the shoot. The perfect confluence of idea and execution resulted in this dramatic image of the beekeeper at total peace with the mass of insects arranged in an allover, abstract pattern on his upper body. Fischer\u2019s stoic gaze perfectly fit Avedon\u2019s new definition of a photographic portrait: \"I\u2019m looking for people who are surprising-heartbreaking-or beautiful in a terrifying way.\"",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q79990035"
],
"internet_archive": []
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Hinson, Tom. \"Say Cheese.\" Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 49, no. 6 (July/August 2009): 10-11.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 10-11",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2009-06/page/10/mode/2up"
},
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: P. 315",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Tannenbaum, Barbara. \"Collection. Richard Avedon's Centenary: Iconic beekeeper portrait now on view.\u201d Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 63, no. 3 (2023): 36-37.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: P. 36; Mentioned: P. 37",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2023-03/page/36/mode/2up"
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/2005.143",
"images": {},
"alternate_images": [],
"creditline": "Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 163644,
"creators": [
{
"id": 38917,
"description": "Richard Avedon (American, 1923\u20132004)",
"extent": null,
"qualifier": null,
"role": "artist",
"biography": null,
"name_in_original_language": null,
"birth_year": "1923",
"death_year": "2004",
"use_in_caption": true,
"include_extent": false,
"weight": 1
}
],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "2005-09-06T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1981,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "1981, printed 1985",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "object",
"conservation_statement": null,
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": null,
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [
"Ronald Fischer, Beekeeper, Davis, California, May 9, 1981"
],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-05-01 06:52:33.522000"
}
}