The Young Lords: Pablo “Yoruba” Guzmán, Minister of Information; Gloria González, Field Marshal; Juan González, Minister of Education; and Denise Oliver, Minister of Economic Development, New York City

February 26, 1971
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
Through his fashion work and celebrity portraiture, Avedon enjoyed access to exclusive New York circles. But to connect with the dissidents and radicals shaping sixties counterculture, he solicited help, placing a call for subjects in the Village Voice. The paper heralded his new project as "something funkier, and more responsible, than the Paris collections." Avedon went on to make many portraits of local activists, but none is so fierce and inventive as this study of leaders of the Young Lords—a party then agitating for Puerto Rican independence and service-oriented socialism. Tight framing relegates Pablo Guzmán and Denise Oliver to the extreme edges of the composition without lessening their power. Instead, they command influence along its margins, as pillars upon whom the entire scene depends.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Young Lords: Pablo “Yoruba” Guzmán, Minister of Information; Gloria González, Field Marshal; Juan González, Minister of Education; and Denise Oliver, Minister of Economic Development, New York City
  • Artist: Richard Avedon (American, New York 1923–2004 San Antonio, Texas)
  • Date: February 26, 1971
  • Medium: Gelatin silver print
  • Dimensions: 20 × 16 in. (50.8 × 40.6 cm)
  • Classification: Photographs
  • Credit Line: The Richard Avedon Foundation
  • Rights and Reproduction: © The Richard Avedon Foundation
  • Curatorial Department: Photographs